Solar company puts hold on $20M US investment following new tariff
Source: By Miranda Green - 01/26/18 12:31 PM EST
U.S.-based solar energy company SunPower announced it's putting a hold on a $20 million plan to expand factories and create hundreds of new jobs in the U.S. until it can guarantee an exclusion from the new federal solar technology tariff, according to Reuters.
SunPower's decision to halt its growth in California and Texas follows President Trump's announcement Monday that a 30 percent tariff would be placed on all imported solar technologies.
The administration said the decision would protect American manufacturing jobs but some solar companies, like SunPower, argued that it will hurt their bottom line and result in fewer jobs in the industry.
The tariff was seen as a major blow for America's $28 billion solar industry, which gets about 80 percent of its solar panel products from imports.
Read more: http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/370895-solar-company-puts-hold-on-20m-us-investment-following-new-tariff
Link to tweet
lapfog_1
(29,223 posts)bigbrother05
(5,995 posts)Make renewables more expensive and kill their job prospects. That will definitely MAGA
With fewer cyclic power sources, no need to improve storage technology
He was right, I'm tired of winning
Wwcd
(6,288 posts)Wwcd
(6,288 posts)This from Nov 2017:
The threat was already in motion last fall. Trump had 60 days from then to make the decision on tariffs. The decision he just did.
https://www.dallasnews.com/business/energy/2017/11/09/100-million-texas-solar-project-hold-trump-administration-threatens-tariff
$100 million Texas solar project on hold as Trump administration threatens tariff
Snip
Although the commission ruled that action was needed, its range of proposals didn't satisfy Suniva. The company had asked for tariffs that could have translated to 50 percent or more for some components.
"The remedy recommended by the ITC is disappointing because it will not heal the damage suffered by this American high-tech manufacturing sector from what has been a tidal wave of imports," according to the company's statement. "The ITC's remedy simply will not fix the problem the ITC itself identified, and with it, we'll see very shortly the extinction of what remains of this manufacturing sector ..."
Tariff supporters have argued this would create new U.S. manufacturing jobs that were killed by foreign subsidies.
Opponents have said that's a small percentage of the U.S. solar market and higher costs will cost far more jobs as many as 88,000 than it would save.
Dawson Leery
(19,348 posts)TreasonousBastard
(43,049 posts)Nonetheless, another example of Trumpian shortsighted business understanding.