United States DOC to incorporate climate factors to consider right into policies as PV market tackles tariff probe fallout

• The US Department of Commerce (DOC) has actually been routed to integrate climate considerations into its policymaking simply one month after it introduced a solar tariff investigation that market gamers have cautioned is already hampering the country's clean energy transition.

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo revealed on Friday a department administrative order, which specifies that it is the policy of the DOC to incorporate climate considerations, including reduction actions, adaptation and resilience measures, and environmental justice actions right into its policies.

The order likewise establishes a DOC Climate Council, which will certainly coordinate the department's climate work and also give Secretary Raimondo with recommendations on resolving the climate crisis.

In a statement made on Earth Day (22 April), Raimondo said the DOC is prepared to utilize every one of its bureaus to make certain the Biden administration as well as communities throughout the US have the data as well as resources they need to alleviate the effects of climate adjustment.

"At the Department of Commerce we have actually been working relentlessly to utilize every device at our disposal to assist address this crisis and also associated financial impacts," Raimondo said.

The comments were made one month after the DOC initiated an examination right into whether solar cells as well as modules assembled in Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand as well as Vietnam are circumventing US anti-dumping and countervailing duty (AD/CVD) orders on cells and also modules from China.

If the DOC rules in favour of the petition, tariffs of 50-- 250% could be applied to solar cells and/or modules from the 4 Southeast Eastern countries and be used retroactively, meaning the investigation is currently causing extensive module supply issues in the United States.

Some 83% people business have actually currently had their module supply delayed or cancelled, according to a study from profession body Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA).

In a blog published on Friday, SEIA claimed the Biden administration has imperilled its emissions reduction targets with the AD/CVD investigation that will certainly slow solar and energy storage implementation development and also "cause the USA to go backward on its climate goals".

With the United States aiming to have a carbon-neutral power system by 2035, research released last year by the Department of Energy suggested solar PV can provide approximately 40% of the country's power need already, but just if annual installations quadruple by the center of the decade.

While a document 23.6 GWdc of solar was deployed in the United States last year, research firm Wood Mackenzie has recommended the AD/CVD examination could result in the loss of 16GW of release every year.

With some module suppliers reluctant to ship panels to the US up until the DOC makes a preliminary choice in August, developer NextEra Energy disclosed recently it expects that 2.1-- 2.8 GW of 2022 of its solar and also storage projects could shift from 2022 to 2023.

If the DOC does discover evidence of circumvention in the present examination as well as were ahead up with a last resolution in January 2023, the tariffs would not be recognized until Q1 of 2025, according to NextEra administration.