Going Solar
The Democratic National Convention, adjusted tariffs for solar cells, and community solar organizing
Green Tech Update provides context about news in green technology innovations and public policy changes related to the environment and climate change.
This week, E&E News by Politico outlined the climate and green technology companies and organizations that will have a presence at the upcoming 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
The DNC’s own Council on the Environment and Climate Crisis is holding two afternoon sessions, featuring talks from lawmakers and environmental leaders. According to the council’s website, its goals are to push for more ambitious climate action within the Democratic Party, widen voter engagement on climate issues, advocate to end fossil fuel subsidies, and push for executive actions and legislation.
External organizations and companies will also be involved at the convention, raising awareness of climate issues and green technology. Invenergy, a clean energy developer based in Chicago, will serve as the “clean energy sponsor” and is hosting a “clean power happy hour” co-sponsored by two other companies: Intersect Power and Counterspark. The Washington, DC-based Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) will run banner ads promoting solar energy, on the convention’s mobile app.
A separate reception will be held jointly by three climate advocacy groups: Climate Power, the Natural Resources Defense Council Action Fund, and the League of Conservation Voters (LVC).
Reuters reported on August 12, 2024, that President Biden has raised the volume of solar cells that can be imported without tariffs, to help United States companies that need enough supply of solar cells to produce solar panels. Solar cells—also called photovoltaic cells—convert sunlight into electricity and are a key component in solar panel production.
According to the White House proclamation, President Biden decided, after considering two reports on the domestic solar industry from the United States International Trade Commission (USITC) and a petition from “a majority of the representatives of the domestic industry,” that “domestic module production capacity” had increased enough that protections could be lowered.
In a press release, the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), applauded the policy change on solar cell tariffs. “This move provides an important bridge for module producers to access the supply they need while the United States continues to progress on solar cell manufacturing.”
Earlier this year, President Biden raised tariffs on Chinese imports, including a 50% tariff on solar cells from China, up from 25%, according to CNBC in May. The August change announced in the proclamation doesn’t appear to change tariff rates but instead raises the volume of solar cells that can be imported tariff-free.
The affordability of solar panels for underserved communities is a political issue in the United States. On August 17, 2024, KTVB7 reported that the Idaho chapter of the Sierra Club held a rally at the Statehouse in support of community solar projects. The main issues they want to have addressed are regulatory roadblocks to community solar projects and lower costs for materials and installation. Lisa Young, the chapter’s director, explained that community solar allows community members to subscribe to panels placed on a local community building and get a credit on their own electric bill.
One person at the rally interviewed by KTVB7 said a neighborhood family had told her they “had to choose between paying their electric bill and groceries.” She said that if some apartment buildings in the area had solar panels that could lower energy costs for residents.
A previous example of neighborhood organizing for community solar is Solar United Neighbors (SUN). According to their website, SUN began in 2007, as a smaller collaborative effort called Mt. Pleasant Solar Cooperative. Two teenagers who saw An Inconvenient Truth, and decided they wanted to install solar panels on their homes. When one of the boys’ mothers looked into it she found that the process would be both expensive and complicated. They gathered people from their neighborhood to implement solar as a community project. According to reporting from the Washington Post in 2014, the collaborative “pushed the D.C. government to establish solar renewable energy credits and a grant program to pay for solar installation (The latter ended in 2012).”
In the same Washington Post article, Ross Margulies, a D.C. lawyer who has helped with community solar organizing said that “20 to 30 percent of a solar installation company’s costs are advertising, marketing and customer acquisition.” Ross continued, “If you can bring the customers to the solar company, then you can get a pretty steep discount on the costs of installation.”
The federal government has a program called the National Community Solar Partnership (NCSP). The U.S. Department of Energy webpage for the program describes community solar programs as an approach that makes “solar more accessible to all Americans, particularly to those with low-to-moderate incomes, renters, and other community members for whom traditional rooftop solar is unavailable. Rather than putting solar on their own home or building, community solar allows energy users to subscribe to a shared system of solar panels, often located within their community.”
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Notes:
https://www.eenews.net/articles/what-to-expect-on-climate-at-the-democratic-convention/
https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/solar/photovoltaics-and-electricity.php
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/05/14/biden-raises-china-tariffs-on-evs-solar-panels-batteries-.html