WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden will look to boost the new energy sector with actions Monday aimed at increasing the production and installation of solar panels, according to a senior administration official.
Biden plans to sign an executive action halting for two years any new tariffs on solar panel parts from Asia. Imports of such panels have been held up due to a Commerce Department investigation. He will also invoke the Defense Production Act to accelerate domestic manufacturing for clean energy projects including solar panel components, according to the official who spoke on background ahead of the president's announcement.
"These actions are gonna spur domestic manufacturing," the official said. "It's gonna put wind in the sails of construction projects all around the country."
Solar projects, including those in California, have slowed in recent months amid the Commerce Department's lengthy investigation into whether imports of solar panels from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam are circumventing tariffs on goods made in China.
The industry — nervous about the imposition of retroactive tariffs on already imported goods once the investigation concludes — has been forced to hold billions of dollars in reserve.
Biden's action, the administration said, is an attempt to free up that capital to increase production and serve as "a bridge" for solar companies over the next two years while domestic production ramps up.
With Biden's broader domestic agenda — including a proposed $550 billion to combat climate change — stalled in the Senate and inflation still high as the the midterm election season draws closer, the president has increasingly turned to executive action to try to stabilize the economy.
He has already invoked the Defense Production Act several times: to address the infant formula shortage, to ramp up domestic output of key minerals for electric vehicle batteries and to boost the production of tests and vaccines amid an ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Biden's latest actions, the senior official said, put the U.S. on pace to triple domestic solar manufacturing capacity by 2024.
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