George Hershman, CEO of SOLV Energy, the nation’s largest utility-scale solar installer, today issued the following statement ahead of U.S. President Joe Biden’s remarks on Earth Day, where he is expected to discuss the Administration’s progress on clean energy deployment. Meanwhile, a destructive petition for solar tariffs has jeopardized the President’s climate goals.

“If the Biden Administration is serious about expanding clean energy to fight climate change, they must reject the reckless tariff petition. The threat of tariffs has effectively frozen solar deployment and eliminated the good paying jobs we need to deliver the President’s climate agenda.

“Every day the tariff threat looms, the Administration’s own clean energy priorities remain on hold. Instead of standing in the way of their own goals, the Administration must end harmful trade barriers and focus on passing clean energy tax credits that will grow domestic manufacturing and create jobs.”

On March 28, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced they would move forward with a circumvention investigation that could impose significant tariffs on solar imports, which account for the vast majority of panels installed in the U.S. The tariffs would affect more than 80% of solar imports and there are not enough domestically produced panels to meet the demand of SOLV Energy alone, never mind the entire U.S. market. This decision has stalled solar deployment around the country, put thousands of jobs at risk, and halted the Administration’s own progress on clean energy. If the tariffs take effect, 70,000 jobs are at risk.

The investigation is the latest challenge for the solar industry, which has experienced significant supply chain constraints, trade disruptions, rising prices, and policy uncertainty. A third of all utility-scale solar capacity scheduled for completion at the end of 2021 faced delays due to these issues. Instead of harmful tariffs, SOLV Energy supports robust tax credits to scale up the U.S. manufacturing sector. Without investments in solar manufacturing and legislative action from Congress, the industry will only be able to deploy less than half of the solar needed to reach the President’s 2035 clean energy goals.

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MEDIA CONTACT:

Scarlett Chepke

SOLV Energy, Communications Manager

schepke@solvenergy.com