President Joe Biden on Monday issued a series of actions that provide Defense Production Act authorization for building insulation, resources critical to the production and deployment of renewables like metals and fuel cells, and electric heat pumps, which provide heating and cooling to homes at a rate of power far lower than more traditional counterparts and with much lower emissions. According to a fact sheet released by the White House, the three executive actions are just one component of a larger push toward addressing concerns like climate change mitigation as well as frequent Republican concerns like achieving energy independence and providing lucrative jobs in a fast-growing industry. The administration says it’s "now on track to triple domestic solar manufacturing capacity by 2024” to a total of 22.5 gigawatts.
Biden’s executive orders will function as a “24-month bridge for certain solar imports while reinforcing the integrity of our trade laws and processes,” according to a fact sheet—an apparent nod to an ongoing Commerce Department probe into solar panel tariffs that many believe has harmed domestic solar expansion. Biden’s authorizations seemingly go against the concerns of the Commerce Department that Chinese manufacturers are skirting regulations by outsourcing solar cell and module production to countries like Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam but still using parts from China. By then exporting those modules to the U.S., the agency fears companies “are circumventing antidumping and countervailing duty orders on solar cells and modules from China.”
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A fact sheet on Biden’s latest executive orders explicitly highlighted “temporarily facilitating U.S. solar deployers’ ability to source solar modules and cells from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam” by suspending certain import duties for 24 months. Outside of solar panel and component manufacturing, the Biden administration is hoping to expeditiously find places to put those grids and bring them online by fast-tracking clean energy projects on public land and using tools like SolarAPP+ for local communities. That includes helping Puerto Rico achieve its goal of hitting 100% renewable power generation. Environmental justice was also explicitly mentioned by the White House, which will convene a group of “relevant industry, labor, environmental justice, and other key stakeholders” as it moves forward with Defense Production Act authorizations in hopes of providing a clean energy transition that is also a just one.
The news was music to the ears of Solar For All, a coalition of solar energy and storage companies committed to furthering renewables development with a focus on local power production. “Transitioning to clean, renewable energy like local solar and batteries is a national priority to fight climate change, create jobs, and achieve energy independence. As solar companies reactivate their projects, we have a better chance to meet the Biden administration’s goal to cut carbon pollution in half by 2030,” the group said in a statement, adding that “we stand in agreement with President Biden that more must be done in the form of adopting predictable clean energy tax incentives and increasing domestic manufacturing of solar panels.”
Prominent Republicans at the center of energy issues like Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, who chairs the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, and Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, who is the GOP leader of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, have yet to issue any statements about Biden’s executive actions. The White House explicitly noted that “President Biden continues pushing Congress to pass clean energy investments and tax cuts,” such as the Build Back Better Act, which Manchin has continued to obstruct since its introduction last year. This has led to a growing rift between the president and the West Virginia lawmaker, who is one of just two Democrats that stand in the way of passing the legislation. The other lawmaker, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, has also remained silent about Biden’s latest push for clean energy.