Notices by Christian Roselund (croselund@mastodon.energy)

@luckytran First backing out of congestion pricing, and now this. She's getting worse and worse, isn't she?

Autarky in the USA!*

*Except if you are getting your #solar cells from Korea.

Given that we make exactly zero solar cells in the United States at present, the latest solar trade case seems to have less to do with protecting U.S. manufacturing and more to do with QCells and First Solar shutting their competitors - including other American manufacturers - out of the market.

And every time we do this, it incrementally slows the #energytransition.

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/04/24/u-s-solar-manufacturers-petitions-southeast-asia-00153994

@GreenFire Yes, but this case is about solar cells, not modules (which other than poly is all we make).

And while I think it will drive some solar cell manufacturing in either the USA or third countries, it will also slow deployment this year. We don't have any more years to screw around like this.

@GreenFire

Also: the cost of modules are between 25-30% of the cost of a utility-scale solar power plant, and 10-15% of the cost of a residential solar installation.

But many projects operate on tight margins, and AD/CVD *cannot* be predicted (rates are set 2 years later). So it really throws off project economics and will cause projects to be cancelled.

@GreenFire This one isn't Yellen, it's Raimondo's Department of Commerce. But Raimondo isn't really in charge; these AD/CVD investigations are very rules-based.

Problem is, the rules are set up to protect U.S. companies and explicitly do not consider the common good for our country or our climate.

I just donated to @insideclimatenews because we need experienced, thoughtful journalists like @dangearino on this critical beat.

Journalism isn't free (but propaganda is). Do your part to make sure that skilled journalists like Dan can keep bringing us the news we need on #climatecrisis and the #energytransition.

https://checkout.fundjournalism.org/memberform?org_id=insideclimate&amount=50&campaign=7013a000003OOS4AAO&installmentPeriod=once