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What the solar trade deal means: The Commerce Department has just opened the door to raising tariffs on major solar energy imports from Asia, which could disrupt existing supply relationships and thus spur President Joe Biden 's campaign to boost domestic electricity production. market. Production of components for solar energy.
The Department of Commerce issued a preliminary ruling this morning as part of its months-long anti-fraud investigation, finding that Chinese parent companies operating in Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia evaded anti-dumping and countervailing duties on Chinese-made solar products. decade.
“What we are trying to do is simply to help fight unfair trading practices. This is not an import ban,” a senior administration official told reporters this morning.
This is not a ban, but the decision involves additional tariffs that could affect imports and growth of solar energy before they are introduced.
The solar companies said it was clear just weeks into trading that supplies had already been thwarted by the simple threat of tariffs and retroactive measures.
These shutdowns, along with other new import restrictions and other supply shortfalls, have slowed overall growth in solar installations this year. The tariffs are likely to further strain the existing supply relationship between US project developers and target countries, from which the US derives about 80% of its solar energy imports.
The climate law has been given the green light: the explosive growth of large-scale distributed solar systems is an integral part of the Democrats' climate agenda. The commercial puts additional pressure on the Biden administration and U.S. solar panel and module manufacturers to effectively use new peak capacity and other Inflation Act subsidies to increase capacity and supply of these components.
Solar panel makers are resisting the increase in credit by announcing new production capacity and expanding existing ones, but it is expected to take years to ramp up production and switch to foreign imports.
Solar energy developers and their trade groups say they want to source more components from home, but stress that this won't happen overnight, which still requires large imports if Biden's decarbonization targets remain within reach.
Answer: Biden's June announcement of a trade emergency that shields imports from these countries from tariffs until the summer of 2024 will not be enough to prevent the effects of a trade outcome that "will and will mobilize billions of dollars of investment in clean energy." Abigail Ross-Hooper , President and CEO of the Solar Energy Manufacturers Association, said:
Hooper said two years is "just not enough time to set up manufacturing supply chains to meet U.S. solar demand," though she said it's good that the Commerce Department hasn't concluded that all the products it considered , are bypass.
The Department of Commerce found that four companies, one in each state, were fraudulent and concluded that the other four were not.
Local industry representatives were pleased with the results of the auction and urged Biden to withdraw the solar emergency declaration.
“It is inconceivable that the White House will continue to give Chinese manufacturers carte blanche to illegally violate US trade laws at the expense of American companies and American workers,” said Michael Stoma , CEO of the Center for a Prosperous America. Represents local producers. .
An administration official said Commerce will send investigators to each of the four countries in the coming months to confirm its findings, with a final decision expected by May 1 next year.
Welcome to Daily on Energy by Jeremy Beaman (@jeremywbeaman) and Brynn Depish ( @breanne_dep ). Email jbeaman@washingtonexaminer.com or bdeppisch@washingtonexaminer.com for tips, suggestions, dates and more. If a friend sent you an email and you'd like to join, click here. If registration does not work, write to us and we will add you to our list.
BIDEN admits 'glimmers' in anti-inflation bill: Biden acknowledged the 'holes' in the Democrats' anti-inflation bill and the billions it gives to support U.S. electric car production and other clean energy efforts during a press conference with the French president. Emmanuel Macron said that we can make "changes" in the legislation that "make life easier for European companies in the first place."
Biden added that the IRA "shouldn't rule him out."
In turn, Macron told reporters that during the meeting, he and Biden talked a lot about trade issues.
Trade tensions were expected to be the focus of Macron's visit. The French president is perhaps the most vocal European leader against the IRA, which requires North American electric vehicle assembly to be eligible for a $7,500 per vehicle tax credit and which highlights stringent procurement requirements for battery components from 2023.
Macron has also led a campaign calling for the European Union to introduce a "Buy Europe" subsidy program aimed at prioritizing European components in key industries.
Ahead of the meeting, trade experts said they expected Macron to try to negotiate exemptions for European companies such as Mexico and Canada, though completing such a trade deal would be a very long and tedious process. Learn more about Brew Trade War here.
OPEC+ SHOULD KEEP CURRENT OIL PRODUCTION TARGET: OPEC+ is expected to update its current oil policy at its December meeting on Sunday, meaning the group will not deepen more than the 2 million barrels per day production cut ordered in October.
OPEC+ sources told Reuters the group hopes to assess how the Russian oil price cap will affect oil markets once it goes into effect on Monday and better understand demand in China, which is struggling to shore up its economy amid resurgence of the coronavirus. . Affairs.
But volatility and uncertainty have left OPEC+ in a quandary : "They haven't seen this kind of short-term uncertainty in decades," said Raad Al-Qadri, chief executive of OPEC+. Energy, climate and resources of the Eurasian cluster. in the New York Times. York Times.
OPEC+ is largely pushing Russia as members of the Saudi-led OPEC group cut production by about 1 million barrels a day in November, fulfilling a promise agreed to by the wider OPEC+ alliance last month.
Production averaged around 28.79 million bpd, the lowest level since 2020, as OPEC tries to allay fears of an oversupply in the market.
However, the consequences of the reduction were offset by Russia, a member of the OPEC + alliance. Unlike the rest of OPEC+, Russia increased production to 10.9 million bpd in November, according to a Bloomberg survey , bringing OPEC+'s total oil cuts to an average of just 361,000 bpd.
Russia is struggling to export its oil ahead of new EU sanctions and G7 price caps expected to come into effect on Monday.
But before the imposition of sanctions, the cost of transporting Russian oil had skyrocketed: Sea routes from the Baltic Sea to India now cost about $15 million, or $20 a barrel for deliveries after the Dec. 5 sanctions. From about $9 million to $11.5 million previously.
It is not yet clear if freight rates from the Baltic Sea to India will reach about $15 million if Russian Urals oil falls below the top price, according to Bloomberg .
... However, European supplies find a new home: Russian offshore oil exports to European buyers hit a six-week high in early November. These trends have begun to fade in the past few weeks, but any additional offerings are quickly snapped up by Asian buyers.
Shipments to Asia rose for the fifth week in a row, and volumes of Russian oil shipped to China, India and Turkey, as well as volumes on ships whose final destination is not yet known, reached a new record level of 2.5 million barrels per day.
Nuclear power in Silicon Valley : Silicon Valley venture capitalists are investing in nuclear power at an historic pace.
Between 2015 and 2021, venture capital inflows into the nuclear industry grew by 325% in physical terms and 3642% in dollar terms, according to Pitchbook data compiled for CNBC .
Supporters say the Lower Inflation Act, which includes $369 billion in clean energy and climate change funding, is an even bigger win for the nuclear industry. “There hasn’t been a boom in nuclear power since it peaked in the late 1970s,” Ray Rothrock, a longtime venture capitalist who has invested in 10 nuclear startups, told CNBC .
But now everything is different. “I have never seen such an investment before,” Rothrock added. until now."
We hope to delay mandatory liquid oil sales: The Department of Energy plans to either cancel or postpone upcoming sales from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve needed by Congress to purchase new oil to replenish reserves, a senior Senate official said. Committee on Energy and Natural Resources yesterday.
Douglas McIntyre , deputy director of the Petroleum Resources Administration, said management "can't fill and empty the same place at the same time" and that "it just doesn't make sense for us to release oil while we're trying to get an SPR from selling a disaster to fill" .
The Biden administration intends to start buying oil to replenish stocks depleted by the Biden production collapse when WTI settles in the $67-$72 per barrel range—whenever that happens.
McIntyre said the department specifically wants to delay or cancel sales required by Congress in fiscal 2024-2027.
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Friday | December 2nd
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Tags : energy and environment, daily energy
Original creator: Jeremy Beeman, Brian Depish
Source: Daily On Energy: Biden's solar efforts have just gone up.
