The solar panel imports case and the future of self-sufficiency
The decision has stunned the solar industry which has relied on cheap panel imports to spur the growth of solar power in the United States. It’s not clear what remedies the commission will recommend to President Trump who will have final say about how to respond. But the president’s often articulated antipathy toward America’s existing trade arrangements suggests a punitive response such as a tariff or quota.
Such a response could slow the spread of solar power in the United States by raising the cost of deployment. This would happen just at the point when Mother Nature herself has underlined the need for low-carbon energy sources through the devastating effects of climate-change enhanced hurricanes on American territory in Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico. In fact, in Puerto Rico, hit by two major hurricanes in a row, the damage was so severe that according to The New York Times the island may be facing months without electricity.
The irony, of course, is that had Puerto Rico invested in distributed solar power, a source perfect for a sunny Caribbean island, it might still have had major problems, but not the kind that a devastated centralized power system has visited upon the island’s residents.
The case just decided by the ITC may or may not result in large consequences for U.S. solar deployment. But it highlights another issue which the rise of anti-free trade sentiment has exposed. How self-sufficient should the United States or any other country, for that matter, strive to be?
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