Sh*t Show: Solar Tariffs Could Stall Critical Transition
May 13, 2022
Come on, people.
I posted earlier this week about this shit show.
The actions of a tiny equipment supplier are leading to tens of gigawatts of solar power not being deployed in the U.S. The solar-panel manufacturer Auxin Solarfiled a trade complaint earlier this year that triggered an investigation by the U.S. Commerce Department into whether tariffs should be imposed on solar modules imported from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, which have been supplying about 80 percent of the solar panels installed in the U.S.
If such tariffs are levied, the amount of solar power capacity deployed in the U.S. this year and next could be slashed almost in half, the Solar Energy Industries Association estimates, based on a survey of solar and storage companies.
Climate Denial Crock of the Week 
May 13, 2022 at 12:39 pm
Who benefits? Big Oil. You can be sure they are behind this. Globalized capitalism is everywhere (You can’t buy anything at a Walmart without buying something from China). And no industry represents globalized capitalism more thoroughly than Big Oil. So, when it comes to solar panels, we’re going to enforce tariffs to protect a local industry that America refused to invest in for the last 40 years, even as Asia did. Of course…
May 13, 2022 at 6:49 pm
There was little business motivation to invest in solar panel production in the US while cheap subsidized panels were available from overseas. Who in the US would expect investor funding for starting such a business in that environment?
This is a classic dilemma, as so many of us (back then as now) are willing to turn a blind eye as to why Asian-made panels were so cheap when we were prioritizing getting solar up as cheaply and quickly as possible in the name of reducing emissions.
Nobody wants to take the hit waiting for US production to ramp up now to create a more secure domestic supply. We could try subsidizing the hell out of US companies in combination with perhaps a modest tariffs.