This week, the Biden administration announced a series of actions to reignite the country’s solar energy industry. President Biden waived tariffs on solar imports from four Asian countries, invoking the Defense Production Act to boost American manufacturing of solar panels and other clean energy technologies. Secretary Jennifer Granholm, joined by all of us, welcomes the plans of the administration to triple solar energy manufacturing in the U.S.
JENNIFER GRANHOLM: Thank you very much for inviting me.
THOMPSON: How would consumers in the U.S. Be affected by such a swift growth in solar energy production?
Ultimately, consumers would be delighted to know that the cheapest form of energy, renewable energy, is most readily available in the places where it is needed the most. This means that even when the sun is not shining, and you need power from solar energy, you can still rely on the attached storage to store and dispatch the energy. In fact, the cost of solar energy is now about half the cost of natural gas in most areas, making it a highly cost-effective option. Bringing down the prices even further would have a significant impact. In fact, GRANHOLM:
THOMPSON: So the million-dollar question, will this decrease fuel costs?
We need to increase our daily barrel production by another million barrels to make up for the Russian barrels of loss. The global market is being affected by the decrease in supply, which means that countries like Europe and the United States are not buying Russian oil. However, Russia needs to do more to trade its oil on the global market. It is very important that our president is releasing 1 million barrels per day from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to add more oil supply to the global market. What the president is doing is really important. Gasoline, which is produced from the oil sold on the global market, doesn’t produce electricity, but electric vehicles do. Solar energy is used to generate electricity. It is clear that we want to manufacture our own clean energy in this country. Well, if I had to say it, we need to move away from this and take action.
Many other manufacturers are struggling to meet the current demands, so the administration plans to increase solar production.
The President has called on Congress to pass the CHIPS Act, which would increase the amount of semiconductors built in the United States, not only for electric vehicles and other products, but also for clean energy. China has largely dominated the solar market, but we want to make sure that the United States is not left behind. That’s why President Biden has invoked the Defense Production Act and is asking Congress to fund the production of domestic solar panels. Now, solar panels are manufactured in Asia, but we want to build them domestically so that we have a much bigger supply chain for solar.
President Biden’s recent decision to grant a tariff exemption to the solar industry in order to boost the competitiveness of American manufacturers has caused concern among countries affected by the investigation. These countries fear that the investigation’s effects have led to numerous stalled projects and excessive uncertainty in the market. Speaking specifically about China, it remains unclear whether China is bypassing U.S. Tariffs by diverting its solar panels to other countries. If there is a federal investigation into this matter, I apologize for not mentioning it earlier.
Granholm stated that we have been asked to build up our domestic supply chain for solar panels, and even though it will take a two-year period, we can still get the solar panels installed. The findings of the investigation will determine what the findings will be, and you will continue to investigate. He has also called on Congress to pass the Solar Energy Manufacturing Act, which would provide tax credits for the manufacture of solar panels in the United States. This is why the president has invoked the Defense Production Act, as it means that we will be supporting the building up of the solar supply chain.
Just a year ago, and now, the Biden administration won’t be able to enact its own defense production act without the approval of Congress. You may or may not readily acknowledge the steps that President Biden can take in this matter, or perhaps you have a different opinion.
He declared an emergency so that we can continue to add clean electricity to the grid, even investigating solar power. We saw a significant reduction in the first quarter of this year. We also saw that there has been a significant reduction in the import of solar panels. We want to make sure that we continue to install solar panels in the United States. Well, we have all seen what has been happening.