Publicly, big solar developers and many climate change activists are sounding the alarm about an ongoing probe of trade abuses by Chinese manufacturers.
Kirk Crews, CFO of NextEra Energy, which trumpets itself as the world's largest producer of wind and solar energy, told Bloomberg that if the investigation found that China circumvented tariffs by offshoring, "It would be unwinding a decade of trade practice."
"Even with trade cases, solar demand has continued to grow - Solar jobs are still expanding," said Tim Brightbill, a Washington, D.C.-based lawyer for domestic solar producers whose complaint last year also alleged China was avoiding tariffs.
The disconnect between public and private words and deeds illustrates a solar industry that presents itself as on a progressive mission to save the planet actually behaving more like a traditional big business.
The Commerce Department launched its probe in response to a petition filed in February by a U.S. competitor to Chinese producers, Auxin Solar, a small California-based solar parts maker, which alleged that China was avoiding tariffs by routing its production through four Southeast Asian countries.
Sidestepping human rights concerns, the Solar Energy Industries Association, the national nonprofit trade association of the solar energy industry in the United States, asked its members in April to sign a petition against Auxin's complaint, warning "There is not sufficient capacity to meet U.S. demand anywhere else in the world except China." The association claims that investigating the complaint "Will also make it impossible to meet President Biden's climate goals," which include making 40% of the U.S. power supply solar powered by 2035.
Solar advocates in the past have advocated completely abolishing tariffs on solar parts from China, claiming "Tariffs are ineffective at growing solar manufacturing capacity." Sen. Jacky Rosen, a Nevada Democrat, in February introduced a bill to repeal the Trump-era tariffs.
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