Towards a Brighter and Sunny America

When I was recently in San Francisco for Intersolar North America, I was struck by the vibrancy of the US solar market. Across the nation, in red states and blue, across the residential, commercial, and utility-scale sectors, the solar industry is a model of growth, innovation, and value creation. We are using the blessing of the sun to create clean, carbon-free energy as well as good jobs for 260,000 Americans[1]. Indeed, 1 in 50 new US jobs is in the solar industry.

Now two bankrupt solar manufacturers owned by overseas investors are threatening that progress. They are using an obscure provision of the U.S. trade law, a “Section 201 petition,” to hold the rest of the industry hostage. The petitioners allege that imports, not poor business practices, are the cause of their troubles, and they are seeking protection in the form of tariffs and a minimum import price on solar cells and panels. These trade remedies, if fully implemented, could double the cost of solar modules[2], destroy 60% of solar demand by 2021[3], and put 88,000 American solar jobs in jeopardy.

Solar jobs are good paying jobs, and they are accessible to workers of all education levels. Two-thirds of American solar jobs do not require a Bachelor’s degree. Veterans are employed in the solar industry at a higher rate than in the rest of the US workforce, and the industry is increasingly diverse, including a rapidly rising proportion of women.

One of the most moving stories I’ve heard comes from West Virginia, where coal mining has been a way of life for generations. Not only is coal mining a dirty and dangerous job, it’s also an industry in decline. In West Virginia, a group called Rewire Appalachia is giving displaced coal workers new career opportunities in energy by training them to become rooftop solar installers. They are trading in their headlamps for sunglasses! The results have been tremendous. In the words of one local newspaper, the effort “is not only changing the community, it’s changing lives.”[4]

And the jobs impact of the solar boom extends beyond employees who work directly in the solar industry to the rest of the supply chain. Elsewhere in West Virginia, for instance, a steel manufacturer that used to supply I-beams for highways now supplies I-beams that go into solar trackers.

I know how challenging it is to profitably build and scale a solar business and to keep up with the ever-increasing pace of technological change. My team and I work constantly to lower prices through scientific innovation, manufacturing processes improvements, production scale, and tight financial controls. Raising trade barriers will not make the US manufacturing industry more competitive. Indeed, the opposite is true. And there is no indication that doing so would jumpstart US cell and module manufacturing.

When I founded Canadian Solar in 2001, I had a vision of a world that runs on secure, clean, and affordable solar energy. If that vision is to become a reality, we need to leave markets free to do what they do best: spur competition, drive innovation, and push prices downward. Artificial trade barriers like those proposed in the Section 201 petition would not only stifle competition, they would put tens of thousands of Americans out of work. I am glad that more and more people are sharing this view. On August 11th, 16 US Senators and 53 House members sent letters to US International Trade Commission to request that the commission “carefully consider the potential negative impact that the high tariffs and minimum prices would have on the tens of thousands of solar workers in our states and on the hundreds of companies that employ them”.

If you feel the same way, please reach out to your elected representatives in Washington and tell them that you oppose the imposition of new trade barriers through the Section 201 process. Our friends at the Solar Energy Industries Association can help you do so and can offer other ways for you to get involved and make your voice heard. This is a critical issue for the US solar industry, and indeed the entire country. We need to work together to ensure our industry remains an engine of innovation, economic development, and job creation.

[1] Source: The Solar Foundation National Jobs Census 2016, http://www.thesolarfoundation.org/national/

[2] Source: Bloomberg New Energy Finance

[3] Source: IHS Markit

[4] Source: Huntington Herald-Dispatch, “Huntington celebrates solar industry job growth,” Sept. 29, 2016