• Miles O'Brien
    link
    fedilink
    English
    910 hours ago

    surely they’ll follow up with investments into US-produced solar equipment to boost the economy and bring prices down to competitive levels, right?

    … Right?

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      5
      edit-2
      9 hours ago

      I’m convinced it will be easy to sell solar to the Right once it is marketed as ‘off-grid independent self-sufficient energy’ instead of ‘green energy’.

  • @mriguy
    link
    English
    5616 hours ago

    I’m sure that’s a much more effective than trying to build up US companies to make solar panels.

    • partial_accumen
      link
      English
      2915 hours ago

      Both are happening at the same time. A new plant for domestic wafer production is coming online in parallel to this.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        115 hours ago

        Where are they getting the material for wafers? Seems like 1 step forward and 3 steps backwards.

        • partial_accumen
          link
          English
          1615 hours ago

          How is domestic silicon manufacturing in any way a “step back”?

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            English
            515 hours ago

            Where is the sources for the material coming from? I don’t think most people realize that “domestic manufacturing” includes imported materials majority of the time which is getting tariffed.

            • partial_accumen
              link
              English
              1114 hours ago

              Where is the sources for the material coming from? I don’t think most people realize that “domestic manufacturing” includes imported materials majority of the time which is getting tariffed.

              The USA does produce polysilicon domestically, which is the main raw material in wafers and ignots. Since the plant isn’t operational yet there is no report of where they are getting their polysilicon.

              • @[email protected]
                link
                fedilink
                English
                413 hours ago

                I think they’re asking where the raw materials come from , i.e. the silicon to make the polysilicon. Usually sand is refined for this purpose; a lot of which comes from the Gobi desert in China.

                • @[email protected]
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  1
                  edit-2
                  11 hours ago

                  I placed this info elsewhere. Refinery building in Tennessee, query in Canada. At least that’s one company shooting to use the silicon for EV batteries. Makes sense because GM built their battery plant here in Tennessee as well. So they could likely ship within the state once refined. (Trump’s tarrifs on Canada obviously being an issue)

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      415 hours ago

      build up US companies to make solar panels.

      One would expect it to have that effect. If X is more expensive to obtain abroad, then you’ll tend to have more domestic capacity being developed – as long as it’s believed that the tariffs aren’t going to go away in the near future, since otherwise, anyone investing in solar manufacturing capacity stands to lose their investment.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        811 hours ago

        Except this move is likely less about promoting domestic solar production and more about protecting oil, gas, and coal by making green energy alternatives more expensive.

      • @shalafi
        link
        English
        112 hours ago

        Your second part is why I’ve been saying we won’t be building factories.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          1
          edit-2
          11 hours ago

          We are building the refinery in Tennessee, and the Quary is in Canada. 1 company is Sonova Global.

          So naturally the Tariffs against Canada will be us making our local refinery pay more to import materials from their own company’s query across the border

  • @hark
    link
    English
    711 hours ago

    Greenest US president in history or something.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    1316 hours ago

    Goddammit Biden. Your time is done. Know when to fold.

    Now when it’s 2025 and beyond, Trump won’t have to do anything with Chinese tariffs. If people complain about tariffs causing price hikes on new solar installations (for which he’s probably gonna get rid of tax incentives on top of that), he can just say, “NoT mY fAuLt, Biden set up the tariffs.”

    Quit while you’re ahead, dude!