Update on August 16th: The amendment was adopted as non-binding and only symbolic in nature. Solarworld apologized for the premature alarm. We will continue to improve our understanding of the Congressional voting process.

In addition to the $1 trillion infrastructure bill passed yesterday, the U.S. Senate passed a $3.5 trillion budget plan before the summer recess this morning. Both houses of Congress will now draft the final budget. A vote on final legislation will be held in a few weeks.

SolarWorld's solar cell manufacturing plant in Oregon. Photo archived by the Oregon Department of Transportation.

The four core areas of expenditure focus on households, climate, healthcare, infrastructure, and employment. The plan includes an amendment that may have a significant impact on the US solar industry.

Senator Dan Sullivan's (R-Alaska) proposal was passed (90-9), which would prohibit any renewable energy projects that use materials produced in China from receiving federal funds and subsidies. In layman's terms: Any solar project that uses Chinese-produced modules cannot enjoy federal ITC or other tax incentives.

"If we are to build our domestic renewable energy industry, we need to have an honest dialogue about where we source these materials," Senator Sullivan said. "We cannot continue to rely on China’s key minerals—resources that are vital to our economy and national security. We have abundant resources in the United States, especially in Alaska. By developing our national supply chain and processing capabilities, we can Create thousands of high-paying jobs, protect our national interests, refuse to provide financial support for those who violate basic human rights, and establish the most important energy sector in the United States."

China controls 80% of the world's polysilicon supply, and nearly half of it is produced in Xinjiang, which has been marked as a forced labor area. Polysilicon is the basic component of crystalline silicon solar panels and is the most common type of solar panel installed in utility-scale, commercial and residential solar projects.

Earlier this week, Solar Power World conducted an in-depth investigation into the ongoing polysilicon and solar manufacturing dispute between the United States and China. 

Since the United States currently does not have silicon ingots, wafers or solar cell manufacturing, all solar panels entering the country are likely to have some materials purchased by China. The US Customs and Border Protection has banned the use of solar panels made of polysilicon from certain companies in Xinjiang.

The Senate budget amendment will not only affect solar panels and their materials from China, but also any components used in solar projects.

With the final approval of the budget, the solar world will continue to follow this story.

Kelly Pickerel has more than ten years of reporting experience in the US solar industry and is currently the editor-in-chief of Solar Power World.

This is a no-win situation for the US solar industry. We need policies to help domestic production and ways to achieve this goal. It will take several years for the environment to realize domestic production of silicon wafers and silicon ingots. Maybe a tax credit is needed... I'm not sure how they plan to achieve short-term climate goals without solar energy.

The answer is not to look back at our manufacturing failures in the late 20th century. If we have the courage to make such a difficult decision, it is to look to the future. This is exactly what we need to restore the supply chain and create motivation for American jobs. We cannot expect China to help us achieve net zero emissions and build quality renewable infrastructure. As Americans, we can and must demand a better country, a philosophy, and a domineering (and desperate) government than made in China, which President Biden rightly regards as the main opponent and opponent of the United States in the 21st century.

I wonder if this can be seen as another strong positive effect on nuclear energy. Of course, conceptually speaking, I don’t actually know, but it’s obviously a good title for Uranium

This is a failed proposal for the United States. Any idiot can see that it takes 10 years to establish a domestic supply chain that can meet the needs of the United States. At the same time, China may accelerate the conversion of its own energy into renewable energy, which is now even cheaper than the cheap coal they used to rely on. China will run a growing part of its economy at 1-2 cents per kilowatt-hour of electricity. That's right-a country that has conquered manufacturing by beating everyone else on price is about to reduce its energy input costs by another 80-90%. If their photovoltaic manufacturers do not sell products to American buyers, it will only accelerate the construction of China and about two other countries that are actively building renewable energy. News. These jobs do not come from manufacturing solar panels (the global photovoltaic manufacturing industry is highly automated, and fewer and fewer people are employed per manufacturing GW). Most photovoltaic installation work is actually temporary, although a small part of photovoltaic maintenance work is permanent. But the real work comes from having cheap, sustainable and efficient energy to power the economy (in the United States, each GW of photovoltaic installed supports an annual GDP of approximately US$ 100 to 1.5 billion for 25 years (panel life), or approximately 250,000 To 375,000 full-time working years in an advanced economy based on human services). The same GW applies to 1,500 FTE work years in photovoltaic manufacturing, 5,000 FTE work years in installation work, and 10,000 to 15,000 FTE work years in operation and maintenance in 25 years (panel life). In any case, let us build a domestic industry. However, if we wait 10 years to build our own renewable energy base, we will be finished. While we wait for the U.S. supply chain to catch up with U.S. demand, our opportunity cost of not using cheaper clean energy support will greatly exceed any marginal benefits we see in manufacturing​​.

The United States absolutely needs to restart the domestic polysilicon, silicon wafer, and battery supply chain, but this approach is tantamount to cracking an egg with a sledgehammer. Political leaders may adopt countless more positive and less chaotic methods to produce the same results. For example, it is required that more and more US military and government facilities need to purchase solar products made in the United States. This will generate a strong market signal that will attract a large amount of private capital. Or, take a page from a Chinese book to provide targeted loans and incentives to several key players at all stages of the supply chain. The best way is to expand ITC to include the construction of wafer and battery manufacturing plants.

"I don't like buying food from the street grocery store, because once the cashier looked at me very interestingly. They continued to throw ugly flyers on my porch every week, and they had never done anything for my kids. The team has made a contribution. I already have it, and I don’t want to rely on them to supply my family’s food (yes, this is a strategic thing we really need to live). So, I decided wisely in the next In the past three years, I stopped eating food from the grocery store. I needed to turn my quarter-acre backyard full of thistles and ants into a complex hydroponic greenhouse and chicken coop, which would satisfy all my food needs. . This would be great..."

OMG, Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska)! Use the grid of Xinjiang Paralyze Kali in your imagination.

Restricting the import of finished panels from China will only postpone development, not only to start, but even to consider the development of solar energy. The shortage of supply has controlled the time factor. It takes time to get the proper factories in place, adding additional restrictions and controls from environmentalists. With all these delays, how does this create jobs here? If it is manufactured outside the United States, why not increase import prices and end-of-life factors? This will give us time to produce panels, as well as methods to recycle and rework old panels from manufactured and reusable products. This keeps the workforce busy and items that shouldn't go to the junkyard.

It makes sense that by importing photovoltaic modules from China, we also imported carbon dioxide! There are nanotechnology solutions available today that can change this and also apply to the battery market, which is not doing well because of imported carbon dioxide and other challenges.

Does this amendment comply with WTO rules? Using discriminatory policies to single out a country in a large industry sounds like a direct contradiction to the WTO’s principle of "non-discriminatory trade". This is not even based on anti-dumping or other specious reasoning. Want to know where this will lead. Will China adopt similar policies to retaliate on goods imported from the United States?

"Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) passed a proposal (90-9) that would prohibit any renewable energy projects that use materials produced in China from receiving federal funds and subsidies. In layman's terms: any use China’s solar projects that produce modules are not eligible for federal ITC or other tax incentives.”

This is where the problem lies. JinkoSolar has a factory in the United States, but if you look at many companies that assemble and sell solar photovoltaic panels made in the United States, when you dig deeper, you can see (supply chain) solar photovoltaics that mention individual modules of Chinese companies Panel, from battery to panel aluminum frame from China. I imagine that a large manufacturing plant like Hanwha Q Battery in South Korea may also use supply chain components from China in battery and panel manufacturing in the United States. All these political manipulation and bragging will be attributed to "how far can (they) go" of the production line of the number of public utilities from China to the world market. There are currently no silicon foundries in operation in the United States, and China seems to have at least four very large silicon foundries online. What Dan Sullivan did was to get rid of ITC without letting it fall behind. If China produces solar panels with a nominal efficiency of 20% and the mass production cost is $0.08/watt, the rest of the world will benefit from the cheap components of its own large-scale solar photovoltaic power plants. The United States can cut costs again. It is its own throat , Once again restricted the use of solar photovoltaic.

"In layman's terms: Any solar project that uses Chinese-produced modules will not be eligible for federal ITC or other tax incentives."

In layman's terms, it is very bad to be anyone other than First Solar in the US solar photovoltaic panel market.

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