Mike Summers were interested in installing solar in his home in Ohio for years, and finally after he replaced his old roof this year, his solar contractor rolled into action. His system – with 19 panels and a battery backup – got up this week and Summer considers himself as lucky.
“I am glad when I did it,” Samar’s said for the former mayor of his Lakewood town just west of Cleveland. ” He will receive about $ 10,000 on tax credit for his $ 39,000 investment, but almost important that all the tools were easily available.
Other optimistic solar buyers may have many more difficult times in the coming months. With China, President Donald Trump’s growing trade war has threatened to wrath a huge source of solar panels and parts, experts say that the cost of projects will increase as China retalies.
According to an international power company’s report, especially according to polycylicon, glass and solar cells, China recently had at least 80% of the solar panel elements as 2022. Solar also demands a growing critical mineral supply, including China, the main player and electronics around the world.
In the United States, the private industry has given $ 18.2 billion in the development of a domestic supply in recent years. Most of this came from the Act to reduce inflation during the administration of former President Joe Biden with a lot of financing for clear energy investment.
However, what China produces will not come closer to replacement.
“When you think about it, everyone is really losing, because systems are spending more for customers and it has made us more difficult for us to do business,” Cleveland-based solar installer Eloolite’s assistant sales manager Brian Dipolo says that Sammers are projecting. Dipolo said that some customers were shutting down the plan until they were further clarified. The company still stocks in solar panels made in North America a month ago to stay competitive in the coming months.
“We are watching both international as well as the domestic manufacturers of the equipment to prepare them for tariffs,” said Dipolo. “You think domestic manufacturers will lower their prices because they are not damaged by tariffs, but they are seeing this extra demand for their tools.”
It is supply and demand, Helien CEO Martin Pochteruk, which focuses on large -scale solar projects. He described the price of the required glass material from China in February because of the increase in tariffs. The suppliers of other countries match the higher prices, which means higher expenses regardless of the source.
Alexis Abramon, Dean of Climate School at Columbia University, said that residential solar is going to be more expensive. It will reduce the solar adoption, and the small and medium sized installers will go under it, he said.
James Haselbek, chief operating officer of the New England-based solar company revision energy, said it was “very difficult to confirm the current and future customers when the trade policy changed so much.”
With the technology scales, improves and become cheaper to install, solar has become significantly more affordable in recent years. According to the national renewable energy laboratory, systems can still spend thousands of dollars, but the average cost of the residential system has dropped by more than 5% compared to 20. American customers also have a shot on credit that further reduces the cost, though their future under the Trump administration is uncertain.
The costs of commercial and utility-scale projects have also decreased dramatically.
It has been fed rapid growth in the United States for the past two decades. According to an annual report of the Association and Consultancy Wood McCenzie, in 2021, the commercial department has increased by 5% and the utility has increased by 5%. The residential department declined by 32% last year, but experts blamed it for high interest rates and uncertainty of elections and said they had expected continued growth before the tariff was damaged.
An important source of solar clean energy is because it does not emit coal, natural gas and oil that harmful greenhouse gases. They are huge contributors to the warming of the world.
Trump imposed his first term on solar cells and modules imported in 2018, hoping to reduce dependence on China.
However, China has subsidized its own domestic additional production, and some US makers have accused it of launching four in four Southeast Asian countries for temporary discounts from tariffs.
Abigail Ross Hopper, president and chief executive officer of the Solar Energy Industry Association, said that the supply chain from China is returning to China to create the world’s most powerful solar production base in the United States. “The group reported that the module production capacity in 2021, mainly in the south, increased by 5%and said that the production of cell was re -collected for the first time in five years” the company resumed the production of Suniva.
However, Hopper also said that the risk of the policy is cool investment and the sudden change in the slower the creation of the job for the manufacturers. The party first said during the Trump administration that the tariffs issued then were harmful to the industry.
In the end, Abramson said “He will encourage anyone who is really thinking about keeping them solar on their roof, to focus on locking faster than the next.”
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Alexa St. John is an Associated Press Climate Reporter. Follow him at x: @Alex_stzhanhanThe Arrive to him at ast.john@ap.org.
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