Chinese Solar Companies are Gearing Up to Cash in on Biden’s Signature Climate Bill

Solar Panel Installation

Chinese solar manufacturers are building factories in the U.S. to reap American subsidies created by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), President Joe Biden’s signature climate bill, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Companies based in China are responsible for about 25% of the 80 gigawatts in new solar manufacturing capacity announced in the U.S. since the IRA became law in August 2022 and established robust tax credit programs to incentivize domestic green energy production, according to the WSJ. Assuming that the factory construction and expected outputs announced by these China-based solar companies stay on schedule, they could reap a combined $1.4 billion worth of value from IRA subsidies each year.

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Chinese Solar Companies Have Been Dodging Tariffs, Biden Admin Says

The Department of Commerce (DOC) determined Friday that five Chinese solar panel companies have been dodging U.S. tariffs by directing their operations through other Asian countries not subject to the import restrictions.

The DOC found in its probe that Trina Solar, Canadian Solar, BYD and Vina Solar have all used other countries in Southeast Asia, such as Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and Cambodia, as conduits to evade tariffs designed to protect the relatively young American solar industry from Chinese competitors that can undercut them with a cost advantage, which in some cases may be derived from the use slave labor of detained Uyghur Muslims in supply chains. The findings may complicate the Biden administration’s plans to rely on solar panels as a key pillar of its sweeping climate agenda, which aims to have the U.S. economy reach net-zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2050.

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