Technology • Development • Installation
SOLAR POLICY INFLUENCES
ON THE HORIZON IN 2025
WHAT MAKES AN “AMERICAN” SOLAR PANEL?
ALUMINUM TARIFFS IMPACT SOLAR MOUNTING
SOLAR CONSUMER PROTECTION CRACKDOWN
APA SOLAR RACKING LEADS THE WAY IN LARGE-SCALE SOLAR RACKING, PROVIDING COMPREHENSIVE SOLUTIONS INCLUDING OUR INNOVATIVE FOUNDATION TECHNOLOGY, WITH HELICALS FOR SOFT SOIL AND GROUND SCREWS FOR ROCKY SOIL. CONQUER THE TOUGHEST TERRAIN WITH OUR TITAN DUO™ FIXED-TILT AND A-FRAME™ TRACKER FOUNDATION SYSTEMS. OUR EXPERT ENGINEERING AND INSTALLATION TEAMS GUARANTEE THAT YOUR SOLAR PROJECT GETS OFF TO A ROCK-SOLID START.
AVAILABLE USA MADE (BY APA) OR NON-DOMESTIC
SINGLE, DOUBLE & TRIPLE HELICAL OPTIONS
HIGH-STRENGTH ROLLFORMED PROFILE
GEOBALLAST
GABION BASKET FILLED WITH AGGREGATE
POUR-N-GO
POUR-IN-PLACE BALLAST SOLUTION
baȷa’s Plate2Plate Solar Support offers an optimum design advantages and flexibility available in both the TEE Post and the Semi/Full Cantilever. Solar Support Structures allows for a clear and unobstructed space with no supporting columns or posts intruding the parking area. The improved functionality provides a more open space concept for parking and versatility with the added value of having ample clearance for door openings.
This robust design utilizes larger foundation and framing members G90 galvanized cold formed steel members, for flexibility, maximized space spans and added durability rust free with minor maintenance.
The Plate2Plate design allows for fast and ease of installation utilizing only four bolted assembly main beam to column connection without the need to perform field welding, additional multi bolted assembly and plates, any special testing equipment, third-party testing lab, and special inspections. This versatile design is a cost-effective money saving and time alternate solution than traditional installation and design methods.
1.800.366.9600 : baȷacarports.com : ewf@baȷacarports.com
PUBLISHER
Courtney Nagle cseel@wtwhmedia.com 440.523.1685
EDITORIAL
Editor in Chief Kelly Pickerel kpickerel@wtwhmedia.com
Managing Editor Kelsey Misbrener kmisbrener@wtwhmedia.com
Senior Editor Billy Ludt bludt@wtwhmedia.com
CREATIVE SERVICES & PRINT PRODUCTION
Art Director Allison Washko awashko@wtwhmedia.com
FINANCE
Controller Brian Korsberg bkorsberg@wtwhmedia.com
Accounts Receivable Specialist Jamila Milton jmilton@wtwhmedia.com
MARKETING
VP of Operations Virginia Goulding vgoulding@wtwhmedia.com
Webinar Manager Matt Boblett mboblett@wtwhmedia.com
ONLINE DEVELOPMENT & PRODUCTION
Web Development Manager B. David Miyares dmiyares@wtwhmedia.com
Digital Media Manager Patrick Curran pcurran@wtwhmedia.com
CUSTOMER SERVICE
Customer Service Manager Stephanie Hulett shulett@wtwhmedia.com
Customer Service Representative JoAnn Martin jmartin@wtwhmedia.com
Customer Service Representative Tracy Powers tpowers@wtwhmedia.com
Customer Service Representative Renee Massey-Linston renee@wtwhmedia.com
Customer Service Representative Trinidy Longgood tlonggood@wtwhmedia.com
Standing at a pivotal moment
I had intended to write the opening statement for this issue about our time in California attending RE+ 2024, but it would feel negligent to not acknowledge the devastation that Hurricanes Helene and Milton have wrought on southeastern states. SPW editors flew to an abnormally warm southern California to attend the largest solar trade show in the country, brushing shoulders with more than 40,000 people. Call it a lingering symptom of pandemic lockdown, but it’s overwhelming to see that many people in one place, all who have a similar goal of expanding solar’s footprint, especially here in the United States.
The number of RE+ attendees is a fraction of the nearly 280,000 Americans employed in solar as of 2023. This industry continues to grow in output and employment, and with its rising exploits come more promises for meeting climate goals from municipalities, states and corporations. These goals are dated years and decades away but seem ambitious at first glance because they are unprecedented. For so long we’ve had no standard to build from and minimal federal backing to support it, playing catch-up to the fossil fuel industry’s dominating head start, which has had a long, lucrative history thanks in part to subsidies and legislative support. Fossil fuel consumption has also greatly contributed to the climate we find ourselves in.
Now, in an era of astronomical growth for U.S. solar output, our country and our world are being rocked by cataclysmic weather that is occurring at higher frequency and strength. Parts of our country once considered climate havens were submerged in flood waters, their roads swept away by barreling mudslides and their infrastructure shattered. Many areas in the mountainous Southeast remained without power as
Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida just five days following Helene.
The U.S. solar industry is trying to address a problem that is already here. Climate change is not some distant issue that will be dumped onto the next generation to solve, as it has been for decades. Gaps in our electrical infrastructure will continue to be exposed, people will continue to be displaced, the rain will continue to fall and the wind will continue to blow. However, as frightening as this all may seem, humanity has always been capable of solving this problem and saving us from it.
In Rebecca Solnit’s book A Paradise Built in Hell, she examines the phenomenon of people banding together and supporting one another in immediate response to disasters. There is no doubt that neighbors in these Southeast communities ravaged by Helene were the first to help before first responders, legislators and other outside aid arrived.
Like those survivors at the epicenter of climate disaster who have saved each other, the solar industry too holds a lifeline that in combination with other measures could temper and even help remediate the increasingly volatile climate we are experiencing. While this issue focuses on legislation and policy affecting U.S. solar, this industry would not exist without the people who make it. Legislators are elected by those people. They are elected to represent them, and we overwhelmingly desire an electrified grid — one that’s more resilient, free from emissions and powered by the sun. SPW
Senior Editor bludt@wtwhmedia.com Billy Ludt
Ørsted
Investigating the foreign ties of most “American-made” solar panels
Inverters
First-of-its-kind cybersecurity standards strive to protect residential solar systems
Mounting
New tariffs could lead to price increases on some brands of aluminum solar racking
Storage
Advocates in the Northeast take lead on legislation to grow the energy storage sector
GUIDE TO RECENT LEGISLATION AND RESEARCH THROUGHOUT THE
Illinois moving from full retail net metering to “Smart Solar Billing” in 2025
SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS
Illinois is phasing out full retail net metering and transitioning to a new solar incentive structure called Smart Solar Billing on January 1, 2025. Smart Solar Billing uses “Dynamic Supply Pricing” to value energy exports based on time of use rather than one set rate of compensation.
DOE loan office backs Qcells with $1.45 billion for new solar panel factory
WASHINGTON, D.C.
The Dept. of Energy’s Loan Programs Office announced a conditional loan guarantee commitment of up to $1.45 billion to Qcells for its new solar supply chain facility in Georgia. The site is expected to start producing ingots, wafers, cells and panels by the end of 2024.
Alaska becomes latest state to legalize community solar
JUNEAU, ALASKA
On August 14, Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy signed legislation enabling community solar programs in the state. The new law opens clean energy access for the first time to the more than 260,000 Alaskans who live in rental housing and 79,000 who are living below the federal poverty level.
Brad Nixon | Adobe Stock
Commerce
to tariff solar imports from Southeast
Asia
WASHINGTON, D.C.
After an affirmative determination from the ITC in June that the U.S. solar panel manufacturing industry is being injured by imports of silicon solar cells and panels from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, Commerce announced preliminary countervailing duty amounts ranging from less than 1% to nearly 300%.
Treasury updates proposed rules for IRA low-income bonus credit
WASHINGTON, D.C.
The Dept. of the Treasury released updated rules for the IRA’s low-income solar bonus credit, including additional selection criteria that the credits support projects owned by tax-exempt entities. A recent Treasury report found the bonus credit kick-started 800 solar projects on affordable housing developments in 2023.
Biden bumps number of silicon solar cells that can enter country tariff-free
WASHINGTON, D.C.
President Biden has modified actions taken earlier this year on tariffed crystalline silicon solar imports by increasing the amount of silicon solar cells that can enter the country tarifffree to 12.5 GW. A handful of U.S. solar panel assemblers petitioned the government for this adjustment, since domestic cell manufacturing has not yet ramped up.
U.S. households claimed $6.3 billion in clean energy tax credits for 2023
WASHINGTON, D.C.
New data from the IRS found more than 1.2 million American families have claimed over $6 billion in credits for residential clean energy investments, averaging $5,000 per household. It was the first year that the Inflation Reduction Act’s full adjustments to the value and scope of these tax credits were in effect.
Senate bill would expand low-income access to community solar
WASHINGTON, D.C.
U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico introduced the Community Solar Consumer Choice Act to make community solar more accessible to low-income residents. The bill would expand existing financing programs to include community solar programs and require every electric utility to offer a community solar program.
California storage installation licensing rule put on hold as trial continues
SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA
A California court ruled in favor of a solar + storage coalition to pause the Contractors State License Board’s new rule requiring contractors to have C-10 Electrical Contractor licenses to work on certain energy storage systems. The new requirement was slated to go into effect on October 1 but will now be paused as the trial continues.
Colorado revives automated solar permitting grant program
DENVER, COLORADO
The Colorado Energy Office announced it will reopen its Automated Permit Processing for Solar (APPS) grant program and award $1 million in funding, with Alamosa County and Boulder County receiving the initial round of grants. Depending on the population of the jurisdiction, they can apply for maximum awards between $40,000 and $100,000.
Illinois democrats introduce bill to set new 8.5-GW energy storage goal
SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS
On the three-year anniversary of Illinois’s Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA), democrat state representatives introduced a bill to set a goal of 8.5 GW of energy storage. A recent study found that to meet CEJA’s goals, Illinois must build at least that much energy storage to avoid an energy capacity shortfall beginning in the 2030s.
CPUC decision on multimeter solar stands after governor’s veto
SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA
Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed legislation that would have allowed California schools and apartment buildings to use solar energy they generate onsite, instead of having to buy it back from utilities. SB 1374 would have reinstated rights that the California Public Utilities Commission took away from properties with multiple electric meters in 2023.
JOIN US IN SAN DIEGO
February 25-27, 2025
San Diego Convention Center
Intersolar & Energy Storage North America is the premier US-based trade show and conference serving the business and educational needs of solar, energy storage, and EV charging infrastructure professionals.
SOURCE QUALITY PRODUCTS
from 550+ exhibitors showcasing best-in-class products, solutions, and services.
GAIN KEY INSIGHTS
during comprehensive conference sessions, hands-on workshops, and dynamic Hub presentations.
MAKE IMPACTFUL CONNECTIONS
within our Connection Lounge, networking lunches, show-floor happy hours, and more.
HAVE FUN!
Trust us: You won‘t want to miss our party.
SECURE
YOUR DISCOUNTED PASS
Register with code: SPW to get free expo hall access and 20% off your conference pass.
Scan here to get started
SALES PRACTICES GOVERNMENT & INDUSTRY TAKE AIM AT SHADY S LAR
Kelsey Misbrener • Managing Editor
Asa solar trade publication, the Solar Power World editorial team regularly hears about bad apples in the industry — especially when it relates to other contractors in installer service territories. But recent highprofile residential solar company closures, coupled with growing public interest in solar, have made even the federal government pay attention to ethics in residential renewable energy.
"It's not uncommon in a rapidly growing industry where information has not yet [been] standardized, for there to be bad actors who move in, and we've been seeing reports of that happening in the solar industry — both people that are spreading misinformation as well as others who are engaging in predatory business practices," said Becca JonesAlbertus, director of the U.S. Dept. of Energy’s Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO).
To cut down on these problems, SETO is working with other government agencies, including the Dept. of the
Treasury, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Dept. of Housing and Urban Development and the Federal Trade Commission, on a holistic solar consumer protection and education plan. The groups are dedicating resources to educating consumers before they buy, as well as encouraging them to report solar company fraud.
"Each of our agencies has a role that we play here, and we've all been tracking these reports of bad business practices closely. I think all of us were looking to do something and to have the greatest impact by working together," Jones-Albertus said.
The groups have published many educational guides, including what to know before buying solar panels, before leasing solar panels and before signing community solar contracts. The guides encourage consumers to look for red flags like high-pressure sales and misleading messaging about cost savings.
"Similar to any kind of purchase, you want to be on the lookout for very pushy sales tactics," Jones-Albertus said. "I think some other important questions are understanding who the person is who's selling to you, and their relationship to the company. Are they part of the company that's going to be doing the installation, and who do you call if you have an issue?"
Along with the federal government’s efforts, some states with booming solar markets are working on specific consumer protection legislation. Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee signed the Solar Consumer Protection Act into law in March 2024, which requires solar contracts to explicitly disclose certain costs and clearly state system performance expectations, according to the Washington Solar Energy Industries Association. Also in March 2024, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed the Home Solar Energy Amendments bill into law, which prohibits the start of rooftop solar
Operations
installation for seven days after a contract is signed and mandates a 10day refund grace period if a homeowner decides to back out, according to Deseret News
"I think that state consumer protection laws are going to be very important to this," said Ben Zientara, solar policy analyst for review and referral website SolarReviews. "I'm hoping that between ethical actors in the industry and legislatures, we can come up with a boilerplate bill that says, 'These are the baseline things that are required to protect consumers.'"
SolarReviews
Zientara lives in Portland, Oregon, and gets half a dozen solar salespeople knocking on his door every month. Competition is fierce in regions like his, but there are still ways to do business fairly. Zientara said the best companies have in-house sales teams that have a stake in every sale.
"We find that those [more ethical] installers are smaller installers that operate in the local or regional areas — small, maybe three states, who intimately know the AHJs they're working with so they can make sure that they know the interconnection requirements, and that they dot all
their I's and cross all their T's on their applications and understand what homeowners in that area need," he said.
"The companies that we've seen failing — these big, giant companies who grew too fast and spread out all across the country — thought they could apply the same ideas to different markets, and that hasn't proven to be true at all," he continued.
SolarReviews is a review website where consumers can research local installers and solar equipment, and find information about navigating the residential solar sales process and understanding policies and rebates that help bring down costs. They can then choose to receive quotes from the
company's network — which is how SolarReviews makes money.
In the review portion of the site, SolarReviews includes an "expert" rating, where its internal team develops a score out of five based on objective criteria like company licenses and insurance coverage, litigation background and time in business. Any homeowner can submit a review of their installation company, which is reflected in the “consumer” rating. The SolarReviews team verifies that each submission is made by a real person.
Zientara said platforms like SolarReviews are an important and quick way for customers to get information before signing a consequential contract.
"I think the biggest challenge that we face is that people aren't necessarily interested in spending 20 or 30 hours researching how to go solar — what the best policies are, how incentives work, all that stuff. And I think, hopefully, continued consumer education and awareness campaigns can help steer people in the right direction," he said.
Recheck
Another style of registry, Recheck, recently launched an online database specifically for solar salespeople. Recheck was established to give lenders like GoodLeap, Palmetto and Mosaic a place to vet new salespeople before giving them access to financing products.
Before Recheck, salespeople typically just signed up to sell solar leases and loans on these finance platforms using a Gmail account. Solar finance companies had no way of knowing the real identity of a salesperson, making it easy to mask any previous issues that could reflect poorly on a solar financing company. CEO Tim Trefren set out with his partners to create a solution for these trust issues.
Creating a Recheck account requires a valid photo ID and matching photo to verify a user's identity. Salespeople can also list their licenses and certifications and will soon be able to add a background check.
"It is really just the first step that enables adding a bunch more transparency to the sales process, making sure that we know that everybody involved in a sales process can be tied back to their real identity," Trefren said.
Recheck profiles follow individuals throughout their solar sales career, even if they change companies.
"This is really helpful, because this is an industry with a lot of turnover. People are jumping around all over the place, and so having it all tied back to that one Recheck account is really helpful for people that are trying to get a better understanding of: Who are
these people? Have there been issues in the past?" Trefren said.
SEIA supports Recheck, and the two entities are working together to drive adoption of SEIA’s upcoming American National Standards Instituteaccredited Consumer Protection Standard and the Recheck registry.
"We think that the vast majority of the people in this industry are in it for the right reason, and there are a small number of bad actors who are causing broad backlash, in some cases, or just a reputational harm for the industry as a whole," Trefren said. "Our hope is that by working together with so many groups within the industry, we can help solve that problem and accelerate the rate at which we deploy solar."
Like any industry, solar is susceptible to bad business practices. The private sector and government are paying attention and working in tandem to clean up the market and help the public become smarter solar consumers. SPW
"We think that the vast majority of the people in this industry are in it for the right reason, and there are a small number of bad actors who are causing broad backlash."
Recheck
The Next Generation of Home Energy Storage is Here
Powerful, resilient and smart whole home backup for virtually any home.
POWERFUL
Power virtually any home load during an outage, including an air conditioner up to 5 tons without using a soft starter.
RESILIENT
33% more backup capability than the industry leader. Extend backup even further with a Generac generator.
SMART
Advanced integrations with ecobee smart thermostats. Real-time remote monitoring. Smart-grid & VPP ready.
Ready to become an installer?
LEARN MORE!
Former army depot boasts 1st-of-its-kind
community solar project
Nautilus
Solar Energy is no stranger to building solar arrays atop capped landfills. The New Jersey-based solar developer has completed many solar landfill projects throughout the Northeast, but building a ballasted array at the former Schenectady Army Depot in Albany County, New York, was a brand-new experience.
The 2.8-MW Altamont solar project is the first community solar project on a formerly used defense site (FUDS) in the United States, and Nautilus had to work alongside the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to ensure the array met significantly higher standards than “normal” landfill projects.
The Army Corps retains monitoring duties on FUDS to ensure any past activities, like storage of hazardous waste, munitions or explosives, are remediated and not actively harming the surrounding environment. Due to this additional government oversight, the permitting and construction timeline for the Altamont array was lengthened to two years. The management plan for the project alone was hundreds of pages long. Rupal Bain, senior manager of structuring at Nautilus, said there were as many as 45 people on planning calls for this community solar project.
The community solar project located at the former Schenectady Army Depot was built within narrow stretches of capped landfills surrounded by many obstacles. Nautilus Solar
Billy Ludt Senior Editor
“We had to really run down every potential issue in advance to make sure that we’d planned for it, priced for it, protected against it, mitigated it, so that it would be a smooth construction and then operation going forward,” she said. But it was necessary, because design and construction of the Altamont project was no walk in the industrial park.
A less-than-optimal project site
The Schenectady Army Depot was active from 1941 to 1969, processing military goods during World War II and the Korean War. The land was also used for burn pits and landfills.
“To be clear, it is not fully understood what is underneath there,” said Steve Dzubak, project manager at Nautilus. “It was [the army’s] intention to not disturb the site.”
The area designated for solar construction was limited to these capped landfills, which weren’t exactly wide-open acres ripe for development. Since it was capped, the land was revegetated, and a private access road built above the grade splits the plot into narrow segments. It’s also bordered by an on-site pond, forest, wetlands, railroad tracks and an industrial park belonging to current landowner the Galesi Group.
“The reality is that we had to design the array to fit within very constrained spaces, because there is no other place to put the array,” Dzubak said. “You can’t go into the wetlands, the railroad tracks or the highways of the industrial park. It’s longer and narrower than you might see on a usual array that’s built into a rectangle.”
The array was designed to fit within the borders of this limited space and on the contours of the land, because grading wasn’t an option. The project was assembled in four separate segments of that narrow land following the access road. Panel rows are staggered, and many are different lengths than preceding panel rows.
The Altamont solar array was mounted using concrete ballast blocks and follows the contours of the site, because grading or penetrating the land were not options.
Nautilus Solar
Due to the land’s capped nature, the Altamont solar array is mounted in place with concrete ballast blocks. It’s composed of Adani Solar modules, DCE Solar fixed-tilt ballasted racking and CPS inverters.
Project cabling was run and managed aboveground as well. The installers used heavy machinery with treads instead of tires to haul components and navigate the site to better distribute weight and reduce the risk of straining the landfill cap.
“It’s a good use of land that is otherwise unusable for the future because of the contamination and the condition of the land and the permanent need to monitor the land,” Dzubak said. “This is a model that could be replicated on other FUD sites.”
FUDS typically have construction restrictions, such as barring any housing or public developments there. The Army Corps reported that there are
components
mechanism
Installation
more than 9,300 FUDS in the United States, and while their conditions and volatility may vary, the Altamont community solar project is proof that there’s an opportunity to make that land productive again for the long term.
Nautilus owns the Altamont solar project and will operate the array for the next 40 years. Any maintenance or upkeep on the project will be handled in-house or through hired O&M partners.
Given the scope of the project and its comparably delicate construction requirements, Altamont was not the cheapest array to build, Bain said. However, to her, the result was worth it. She used to reside in the nearby town of Schenectady and felt personally motivated to complete this project.
The Altamont community solar project took an otherwise inaccessible and undevelopable piece of land and turned it into something that is serving residents nearby.
“Things can be done if you put in the commitment and time,” Bain said. “Problems aren’t unsolvable — they just haven’t been solved yet.” SPW
Given the shape of the allotted project space, many of the solar panel rows are staggered and hold varying numbers of modules. Nautilus Solar
Above-ground cable trays follow along the access road that splits the landfills on site into smaller segments. Nautilus Solar
Power Up Your Solar Game
PV Solar Testing Solutions
PV Current-Voltage Analyzer
"Best for high voltage"
Measures and displays current voltage curves up to 1500V and 30A
Automates data management, analysis, and reporting
Model: PVA-1500 HE2
Solar Irradiance Meter
Scan to view our Fluke solar selection
“Best for PV site survey”
Simplify installation, and troubleshooting of PV arrays
Measures irradiance, temperature, inclination and direction of the solar array
Model: IRR1-SOL
Solar Clamp Meter
"Best for solar high voltage" AC/DC 999.9 Amps CAT III 1500 V rated Thin jaw for access to cables in crowded boxes IP54 outdoor rated
Model: 393FC
Kelly Pickerel • Editor in Chief
American How is solaryourpanel?
Panel Technology
Ensuring U.S. tax credits don't benefit China-influenced companies
is a complex task.
TheU.S. solar industry has a complicated relationship with China. The silicon solar cell may have been invented in America 70 years ago, but manufacturing dominance has since shifted to China and Southeast Asia. Manufacturing tax credits included in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 accomplished the goal of reinvigorating domestic solar manufacturing across the country, but most of the new stateside factories opening their doors have Chinese ties. More solar panels are being made in America than ever, but it’s undetermined whether they’re truly American and if anyone can do anything about it.
Chinese firms set up manufacturing in the United States
According to Solar Power World records, of the U.S. solar panel factories that have opened specifically due to IRA credits, 60% have obvious Chinese investors. These include companies like Canadian Solar — which, despite its name, largely does business in China — and LONGi. Both companies now operate the largest single-site silicon panel assembly operations in the United States — 5 GW for Canadian Solar in Texas and 5 GW for LONGi in Ohio.
Both Canadian Solar and LONGi are boosting domestic solar manufacturing and employing hundreds of American workers — but should they receive tax credits for their efforts? Some U.S. legislators and solar manufacturers say absolutely not.
The U.S. Senate has been vocal about outside forces affecting domestic solar manufacturing. Sens. Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Jon Ossoff of
Georgia introduced legislation and requested Dept. of the Treasury assistance in “disrupting” China’s dominance on the solar supply chain. Their appeals mirror those made by First Solar and Qcells in various tariff investigations shaping the U.S. solar industry — two companies with major manufacturing footprints in both Brown and Ossoff’s represented states.
In July, the two senators introduced the “American Tax Dollars for American Solar Manufacturing Act” to prevent taxpayer money, including funds from the IRA, from going to Chinesecontrolled companies. The legislation would ensure that only American manufacturers with a “genuine domestic supply chain” benefit from tax credits and prevent any company with ties to a “foreign entity of concern” from receiving the 45X Advanced Manufacturing Tax Credit, which provides incentives to those making solar components in the United States.
“We cannot allow American tax dollars to go to Chinese companies that cheat and undermine American solar manufacturing. Our bipartisan bill will make sure that only American companies are supported by taxpayer dollars and support the creation of manufacturing jobs throughout the solar supply chain across Ohio,” said Sen. Brown when the legislation was announced. “We will not allow the Chinese government to take down the American solar manufacturing industry.”
The issue with the bill’s language is that no one has a genuine domestic supply chain — which the senators previously argued should begin at the wafer stage — except, of course, First
Panel Technology
Solar (which manufactures thin-film modules) and Qcells (which will be the only silicon solar manufacturer in the United States to have its own domestic wafer supply). Also, any Chinese solar brand manufacturing in the United States already cannot access tax credits unless working through a U.S. company. Canadian Solar is leaning on its longestablished U.S. subsidiary for its panel operations in Texas, and LONGi — which is manufacturing in Sen. Brown’s state of Ohio — has partnered with U.S. developer Invenergy to invest in new manufacturing entity Illuminate USA.
Keith Martin, partner at law firm Norton Rose Fulbright, said this bill could never work as written.
“The most recent bill is not properly drafted. It denies 45X credits for components ‘produced by a foreign entity of concern.’ Companies claiming 45X credits are U.S. companies,” he said.
A different piece of legislation, the “Protecting Advanced American Manufacturing Act” introduced by Florida Sen. Marco Rubio in 2023,
has more ambiguous language that could gain a foothold. This bill, also introduced in the House by West Virginia Rep. Carol Miller, would deny tax credits to companies that are incorporated or headquartered in China or that are directly or indirectly owned, controlled, directed or materially influenced by the Chinese government.
“This bill would deny any disqualified entity the ability to claim these tax credits,” Martin said. “It’s such a broad statement that it’s a little hard to know exactly what would be ruled out.”
Bills like these must be included in a larger tax bill to pass. No tax legislation has advanced in 2024 for these solarmanufacturing-specific items to make any real progress.
Preventing outside influence on American solar products
Even removing China from the discussion, it’s difficult to find a purely American solar manufacturing company in this maturing industry. Qcells has Korean backing, Silfab and Heliene are from Canada, Elin Energy/Sirius PV
originated in Turkey and Meyer Burger is Swiss. First Solar may be the most “American,” but that is thanks to it starting in Ohio at the dawn of solar panel technology advancements.
A fresh batch of American solar companies could emerge if the United States wins the race to commercialize perovskites, but for the time being, the domestic solar manufacturing industry is run by multinational companies.
To prevent one country from participating in domestic manufacturing and gaining IRA credits is a complex political issue that starts to look like a trade war, said Eli Hinckley, partner with Baker Botts.
“If we want to limit the amount of economic value flowing back to China through the IRA, it gets challenging,” he said. “Could you make laws that say if you use Chinese-manufactured equipment, you won’t get the credit? That’s hard because some of the [equipment] you can’t get anywhere else. I get it — you don’t want dollars flowing from IRA into China. But, if what you want is to accelerate the growth of
Workers at the Illuminate USA manufacturing facility, supported by LONGi, celebrate production of 1 million solar panels in Ohio.
the clean energy economy and create jobs, the fastest way to do that is to bring the lowest-cost solutions into the market, and those are Chinese.”
Mike Carr, executive director of the Solar Energy Manufacturers for America Coalition (SEMA), said the group’s members don’t want to hinder the incredible opportunities the IRA presented by restricting who can participate, but they acknowledge it’s not a fair game. SEMA was established to reshore the entire solar panel supply chain in the United States, and its membership identified that China’s dominance on silicon wafer production would prevent any effort at having a truly American product.
Carr said it’s great that primarily Chinese panel manufacturers want to establish production efforts in the United States and hire American workers, but “they’re still fundamentally taking advantage of the supply chain monopoly upstream, and that still means it’s an unlevel playing field. Head-tohead, we’re happy to compete. But until that supply chain dominance, which gives that extra leverage, until that’s whittled away, we can’t move forward.”
Reshoring has to be looked at in stages, Carr said. Before the United States can make its own wafers, there must be enough downstream panel assemblers demanding domestic wafers and cells. To quickly build these panel factories, the United States will rely on Chinese manufacturing equipment. Once there’s enough of a built environment, the real reshoring efforts can begin. To restrict certain companies from accessing the help lent by the federal government to build up the industry would prevent any real progress from happening.
But for some, some type of restriction feels necessary. Since the IRA incentives are within the tax code, modifying legislation that focuses on ownership structures, like what Sen. Rubio introduced, may be the only path forward to limit Chinese companies profiting off the U.S. manufacturing renaissance. The results of the November election, and whether legislators championing solar manufacturing are still in office, will determine if these initiatives move forward or not.
“This is hard. Let’s just be fair. Treasury has never done industrial policy before. There’s a lot that we need to work through,” Carr said. “This is a fairly young effort in the grand scheme of things. It took a while to pass IRA, and it will take a while for things to shake out.” SPW
Inverter Technology
Kelsey Misbrener • Managing Editor
New UL certification takes first step to protect residential inverters from cyberattacks
In July 2024, a software update from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike caused Microsoft Windows systems to crash globally — grounding commercial airlines and halting credit card processing. The U.S. Government Accountability Office said it was potentially the largest IT outage in history, affecting a wide range of critical infrastructure like emergency services, financial institutions and communications.
Just as susceptible to hacks and tech-related outages is the distributed energy sector, as more internetconnected inverter-based resources like solar power come online. Renewables as a whole surpassed 30% of U.S. electrical generation for the first time in Q1 and will only keep growing.
Most distributed solar systems are run by just a handful of inverter brands — in 2023, the top five residential inverter suppliers represented 96% of the market, according to Wood
Mackenzie. This streamlined market means any software update errors or hacks could affect a whole lot of systems.
"It's a new technological phenomenon that you have completely decentralized, small systems in the millions that are becoming a big chunk of the energy mix, and that's a different challenge to protect," said Uri Sadot, cybersecurity program director for SolarEdge Technologies.
Utility-scale solar projects are governed by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC)'s Critical Infrastructure Protection cybersecurity requirements, but smaller projects have had no similar standardized rules to adhere to until now.
"Imagine something similar in the solar industry, like a CrowdStrike [error]. If an inverter manufacturer has inverters covering 95% of residential solar … if one update can go wrong,
what would be the impact to the entire neighborhood, then to the entire community and then to the entire grid?" said Danish Saleem, an electrical engineer and senior researcher in NREL's Energy Security and Resilience Center.
Saleem has dedicated the past eight years to strengthening cybersecurity for distributed energy resources like residential solar power. He has built relationships with inverter manufacturers, utilities, aggregators, cloud service providers and other stakeholders to understand what's needed to keep individual home systems and the grid safe.
This research has resulted in a multi-faceted approach to distributed solar cybersecurity, with the centerpiece being a new certification through UL Solutions.
"Most of the safety certifications — inverter safety, device safety, battery safety — those are UL certifications,"
Saleem said. "It only makes sense to have cybersecurity certification also under the UL umbrella."
The UL 2941 standard focuses on cybersecurity measures that should be included in every residential inverter to prevent widespread internal software crashes or hacks from outside entities. The standard lists 10 different domains that products must address to be listed as 2941-compliant, including access control, cryptography and encryption.
"The work we did with NREL really focused on the product-level, to say, 'Let's look at those critical attributes that can be designed into an inverter-based product to provide fundamental protection schemes that will help mitigate the possibility of a cyberattack and set the stage for all of those other systemic approaches that are required over the lifetime of the product to also be done successfully,'" said Ken Boyce, VP of principal engineering at UL.
Integrating these distributed resources into the grid is another step in the chain that's susceptible to cyberattacks. Saleem, Boyce and others worked to address that aspect through a new guide included in IEEE 1547.3, the standard for interconnecting distributed energy resources into the power grid. The guide provides security recommendations for DER stakeholders and clarifies the broad requirements of cybersecurity for these resources.
The standards nonprofit SunSpec Alliance also released a voluntary DER Cybersecurity Initiative for inverters that is complementary to UL 2941. But the UL standard is expected to be the industry go-to as it rolls out and is adopted by different AHJs and other stakeholders.
"In some cases, that could be governed by a state utility commission. The utilities themselves sometimes will say, 'In order for you to connect to my grid, you need to comply with this set of requirements, for example, including UL 1741 and IEEE 1547,'" Boyce said. "There are private-sector considerations where it may not be a law or a regulation that you need to comply with, but it becomes a best practice that's specified, and people look for it as they implement these solutions to mitigate their risk."
Solar manufacturers have been receptive to a cybersecurity standard for their products, although implementing the new programming and getting products listed to UL 2941 will come with additional costs. Many inverter companies have been working to reassure solar installers and consumers that their products are protected from attacks, but now they have UL to back up these claims.
"I think that there are a lot of companies who were really thinking about this, and saying, 'What do we do?' And that's the power of developing a set of
requirements. Now, you start to have a more consistent, codified approach to the way you'll address these things," Boyce said.
The committee that came up with UL 2941, made of manufacturers, cybersecurity experts, utilities and more, decided to create two levels of compliance within the standard — a basic level, which the committee thinks every inverter manufacturer can and should meet, and a more advanced level. The advanced level would include higher levels of encryption and multi-factor authentication for any administrative role.
"These would be slightly harder to meet at this point, but over time, we hope this would drive higher endpoint security throughout the industry," SolarEdge's Sadot said.
There's no set timeline for uptake of UL 2941, but certification is available now to give homeowners and installers more peace of mind that devices are protected. The standard is expected to be revised every few years to align with evolving cybersecurity needs.
"We can't wait to deploy solar. We just … we can't. We're past that point where we can afford to say, ‘Let's wait and make sure it's perfect,’ right? We have to deploy, and yet, there's a lot of work going on to say, 'Let's try and make that deployment as cybersecure as possible,'" Boyce said. SPW
Billy Ludt • Senior Editor
Unique AD/CVD case brings extra taxes to imported solar racking
Aluminum extrusions from 14 countries are now subject to additional trade costs.
Domestically manufactured solar racking and mounts may experience a boon thanks to recently enacted trade duties on a range of aluminum products imported from countries around the world.
The U.S. Dept. of Commerce in October placed antidumping and countervailing duties (AD/CVD) on aluminum extrusions imported from 14 countries. After nearly 13 months of review, these trade duties cover a list of aluminum extruded products from China, Colombia, Ecuador, India, Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Vietnam.
“In all of these [AD/CVD] cases, typically what you see is a surge of
subject imports from the countries that are at issue — so, the 14 countries here — where they’re taking market share from the U.S. producers, and they’re priced much lower,” said Robert DeFrancesco, a partner in international trade practice at Wiley Rein LLP and counsel to this case’s filing petitioners. “They’re using dumped and subsidized pricing to gain market share in the United States.”
Among the aluminum products within the scope of these import duties are solar panel racking rails, solar tracker assemblies, electric vehicle battery trays and EV charging station parts or assemblies. Aluminum framing on imported solar modules is not affected by these trade duties.
The federal government’s look into the current state of aluminum imports followed an existing case regarding aluminum extrusion imports from China, which was initiated in 2011. This latest AD/CVD investigation started in October 2023 after a petition was filed by the U.S. Aluminum Extruders Coalition, a group representing 14 domestic aluminum extruders, and the United Steel Workers Union.
“In order to bring a case, you have to have standing, and you have to show that you represent at least 25% of the U.S. industry and 50% of anyone who expresses an opinion on it,” said Greg Husisian, partner and litigation attorney with Foley & Lardner LLP and chair of the firm’s International Trade
and National Security Practice. “At the very start, there’s a requirement that it be filed on behalf of the U.S. industry producing the same product, and the orders result, generally, in fairly high duty rates.”
Depending on the country of origin, the new import duty rates on aluminum extrusions range from a few percent up to nearly 377%. The latter applies to imports from China. All 14 countries received antidumping duties, while only China, Indonesia, Mexico and the United Arab Emirates also have countervailing duties, due to their own countries’ efforts at subsidizing aluminum extrusion production costs.
AD/CVD investigations aren’t new to international trade or even the solar industry, but this aluminum extrusion case had its quirks.
An unusual case of anti-dumping
The U.S. solar market is familiar with trade duties imposed on industryspecific products, like the AD/CVD investigations into solar cells imported from Southeast Asia. However, solar cells generally have similar methods of production and are within a single product group. AD/CVD investigations typically center on a single product type.
Aluminum extrusion is instead a production method that covers a breadth of different industries, from door frames to solar racking, and even includes “fabrication.”
“[This] is a very odd order, a very complicated scope, because it’s based on how the product is made rather than the physical product,” Husisian said. “That’s why it covers so many different things … because it’s based on a production process to reflect the fact that you can squeeze the aluminum out into, basically, whatever form you want.”
According to final investigation filings, Commerce considers aluminum extrusions from those countries subject to these duties “regardless of form, finishing or fabrication, whether assembled with other parts
or unassembled, whether coated, painted, anodized or thermally improved.” If the product is extruded using the common elements composing aluminum and comes from one of those 14 countries, then it is subject to the additional trade duties.
The exception to these duties is for aluminum extrusions that are permanently assembled with other components besides other aluminum extrusions and fasteners. That’s why aluminum frames on solar modules are not subject to the duties.
How these duties might affect the market
The purpose of initiating an AD/ CVD investigation is to level the playing field within a certain market, DeFrancesco said. With these duties in effect, importers will be responsible for paying those additional costs on affected extruded aluminum reaching American ports. The party making the purchase is commonly the one paying those duties.
“You're going to see lots of renegotiations, lots of risk management strategy,” Husisian said. “Sometimes, people will come up with arrangements like not [setting] the final price until the administrative review is finished.”
A year following enactment of AD/ CVD duties, Commerce will reassess its determinations to see if the initial cash deposit rate set was sufficient. There is a chance that these duties could change, which would result in importers either being charged or refunded.
Additionally, with these import duties in place, there is the chance that aluminum extrusion supply and prices in the United States will fluctuate, Husisian said. But the initial purpose of starting this investigation was to drive business to domestic aluminum extruders — including solar racking, mounting and tracker suppliers.
“Like all these cases, it's always a lot of work at the beginning, and it’s an awful lot of work at the very end,” DeFrancesco said. “We're hopeful for a good outcome, and we'll have to wait and see.” SPW
Kelly Pickerel • Editor in Chief
Q&A: The Northeast takes the lead on energy storage legislation
This summer, Rhode Island joined its New England neighbors in passing legislation specifically aimed at energy storage development. The state has an aggressive clean energy target of 100% renewable electricity by 2033, and the Energy Storage Systems Act will contribute to that endeavor.
As most areas of the country are still working on positive solar legislation, New England’s energy storage efforts seem almost futuristic. Rhode Island’s latest legislation establishes storage programs, deployment targets, utility storage procurements and rules for connecting batteries to the grid. Solar Power World spoke with Kat Burnham,
senior principal at the national business association Advanced Energy United, about how energy storage advocacy efforts have developed recently.
SPW: What is Advanced Energy United, and what advocacy efforts are you working on, especially in New England?
Burnham: Advanced Energy United is a national trade association of clean energy companies, united in our mission to achieve 100% clean energy. What makes us stand out is we are not a single sector — we represent batteries, wind, solar, grid enhancing technologies. While we’re national, we
have state representatives across the country. I’m the state lead for Rhode Island, as well as Massachusetts and Connecticut.
There’s a lot going on in New England, and we as an organization are relatively new to this space. I’ve worked in Rhode Island advocacy for a few years, and our New England team has a track record of work in the area. Our [energy] work in New England covers legislative issues like the energy storage bill in Rhode Island. We also do some regulatory work at Public Utilities Commissions, and our team does work with ISO New England, advocating for reforms at the wholesale level. We really
A solar + storage project completed by Nexamp in Massachusetts.
cover our bases. We even have a federal team keeping an eye on how federal dollars from the DOE are investing in the New England states and how they can be leveraged for our shared energy goals.
What were your goals with the Energy Storage Systems Act in Rhode Island?
Our goal was to have legislation that would enable storage in Rhode Island. To put it simply, right now, the market is not well-designed to incentivize storage development. It was designed at a time when we had big, centralized power sources, and storage is really unique. Our goal was for that legislation to encourage investment in storage solutions in Rhode Island and have a forward-looking view, including deployment targets for Rhode Island to offer some predictability to the market and help grow interest in the state. Looking around Rhode Island, we see our neighbors Connecticut, Massachusetts and Maine all have viable storage targets. To keep pace, we absolutely want to have our own deployment targets. It definitely helps having other states take the first step, and we can learn best practices or lessons learned from those states, which is reassuring to policymakers. Just like solar has evolved, storage has finally hit its moment. We’re seeing both the cost savings and the abilities with storage in a way that we hadn’t in previous years. That’s helped make the case for storage and made it a positive success story.
Rhode Island had an aggressive clean energy law already, so was this more of a clarification for energy storage?
Yes, and with this legislation, it doesn’t just enable battery developers. We’ve seen it proven out that [storage] can be a really important tool for integrating other distributed energy resources, like wind, solar and EV chargers. It can be a helpful tool to balance out the system. I come back to the way things are structured in Rhode Island, as well
as other states, that’s not really great at accommodating storage, which is not in a tidy box of solely a producer or solely a consumer — storage is something else. That’s why we needed this legislation.
When you talk to legislators and committees, what’s the selling point for energy storage?
There isn’t one selling point for storage. It is a range of benefits that really make it attractive to policymakers. Workforce development is part of the picture. Reliability is important. Grid resilience, being able to integrate other resources, is important. Another important benefit that storage brings that resonated in Rhode Island is the potential savings for ratepayers, because storage can charge up when power is plentiful and discharge when demand is higher. That can help balance the system and help with ratepayer savings. In New England, we have relatively high electricity rates, so any opportunity to invest in a system that will make it more reliable and help smooth out costs and make them more cost effective for the consumer — that really appeals to policymakers. It takes a lot of time to educate legislators and policymakers. We were really fortunate with this legislative push to have incredible bill sponsors — Sen. Dawn Euer and Rep. Arthur Handy. It takes a lot of time and expertise and dedication, and they have that in spades. That’s important as we think about the transition and all the potential solutions.
That also means we need to make sure that all policymakers are aware of these technologies as well as the potential hurdles we need to overcome, and we have a legislative body that gets it.
What’s next for energy storage advocacy in Rhode Island?
The next step is implementation. The Energy Storage Systems Act goes to the PUC and the Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank has been tasked as a program administrator. On behalf of the industry, we want to raise our hands to be a resource and help guide that process as the PUC thinks about developing tariffs specific to storage, recognizing all the different features it can offer, and making sure that’s clear and effective to stakeholders. That’s my biggest next step for Rhode Island — implementation of the bill. SPW
The revolutionary new Fibrelite HS20 Road Crossing Trench, designed for AASHTO 32,000lbs/axle traffic, is constructed of advanced, lightweight, high-strength composite materials, yet is light enough to be installed by hand.
SPECIAL SECTION
Federal Solar Policy
Recent decisions and discussions at the federal level — in both the legislative and judicial branches — have the potential to reshape the solar landscape for years to come. In this special section, we look at how the Supreme Court’s decision on the Chevron doctrine could impact some parts of the Inflation Reduction Act, the ways the Energy Permitting Reform Act could help grow solar on public lands and transport that power to faraway places, and whether the IRA’s domestic content bonus can apply to residential solar projects.
Federal Solar Policy
Permitting and transmission bill could bring solar power where it’s needed most
Kelsey Misbrener Managing Editor
Permitting and transmission for utility solar projects has been a challenge for the industry that has only intensified as installations get larger in size. But a new bill in its early stages in the Senate is giving large-scale solar developers hope for a less-congested future.
The Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024 (EPRA), introduced by Sens. Joe Manchin (I-WV) and John Barrasso (R-WY), aims to remove the roadblocks to efficient permitting and transmission of all types of energy projects, including renewables.
Solar developers and other industry leaders have been pushing for changes like these in the past few years, most recently with almost 200 companies, including AES and EDF Renewables, sending a letter to Congress asking them to focus on this issue.
“Building new transmission in this country takes many years, like 15 years or longer to do all of the NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act ) review, working through communities, etc. What we have currently is an electrical grid that is, some say, archaic, and is in need of huge upgrades,” said Amanda Smith, VP of external affairs for AES.
In its current form, the EPRA would expedite judicial review processes by shortening or adding deadlines, streamline and increase deployment of renewable energy on federal lands, and help move electricity between regions by giving states more power over transmission planning.
"There are two main things that we need: We need to be able to build our own generation projects. We also need transmission built to connect our
projects to load," said Virinder Singh, VP of regulatory and legislative affairs at developer EDF Renewables. "We've been most focused on the federal lands piece. That's a hugely important issue for the Western U.S., for California and all the states that want to maintain reliability and reduce greenhouse gas emissions."
The EPRA doubles the goal of renewable energy deployment on federal lands from 25 to 50 GW (but without a deadline) and adds energy storage to the goal. It also streamlines environmental reviews for lowdisturbance renewable energy projects. Singh said there's more work to be done on the federal lands portion to align with the industry's needs, but that the transmission portion is favorable as written. The bill encourages
Brett Sayles | Pexels
www.solarpowerworldonline.com/tag/usa-manufacturing/
Federal Solar Policy
interregional collaboration and establishes cost allocation plans for who pays for transmission buildout — regional transmission organizations, specific states or utilities.
"There's always a ton of intractable haggling amongst all those jurisdictions about who covers what, such that things don't get built because there's no clear path on how the costs are going to be recovered," Singh said. "That needs to be resolved. You can imagine you're trying to build an interstate highway system that's also connected to state-specific farm-to-market roads. Everybody benefits from all those things across states, but people are haggling over the exact cost allocation of that, and therefore nothing gets built."
The EPRA requires neighboring transmission planning regions to jointly create transmission construction plans. It also defines the ways costs should be allocated based on factors like improved reliability, reduced congestion and enhanced energy independence.
These changes to transmission planning could increase the ability to move clean power from areas with high solar capacity but low demand to places with less capacity and high demand.
"The more transmission you have, the more capability to move electrons from one place to another and pull in different generation sources, the more resilient and reliable your grid is," said Jeremy Horan, VP of government affairs at the nonprofit American Council
on Renewable Energy (ACORE).
"Everything from keeping your food cold 24/7, to keeping hospitals running, to keeping military bases online — all of that stuff we need to keep those electrons flowing, and transmission, particularly interregional transmission, is going to be just critical."
The EPRA streamlines the review process for determining where transmission is needed and sets deadlines to handle judicial reviews of energy projects, a part of the process that often adds years to projects.
"Setting hard timelines is a theme throughout the bill, whether it's transmission or renewable energy on federal lands or even fossil infrastructure," Singh said.
The EPRA is, of course, not exclusive to renewable energy — it's sponsored by both an Independent and a Republican, after all. It also aims to make it easier to build out fossil fuel and mining operations on public lands. Although groups like the Center for Biological Diversity have come out against the bill because of these provisions, renewable energy policy experts say they're a necessary evil to passing a transmission bill in the current political climate.
"The political realities are not convenient for a single-resource permitting bill — I think the same goes for fossil too. You're not going to get a fossil-only permitting bill," Singh said.
The bill is still in its very early stages. It was passed out of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources in July and has since stalled, likely until after the election. But Singh believes the lame-duck session could be helpful for movement.
"If you see changes in party control of the two different houses, that actually might spur interest in getting something done. So the party losing power, let's say in the House, might want to put its stamp on a federal statute before it cedes that power. Similarly on the Senate side," he said.
Time will tell if this will be the bill to make the permitting and transmission changes required to meet the demand for renewable energy across the country. "It's a common thing, particularly on federal legislative efforts, where there's a lot of work done on something, and you don't know if it's going to happen or not, but if it's going to happen, it might happen really quickly," Singh said. "You better have everything lined up. You have to do the pre-work to take advantage of the right opportunity politically."
Even if it doesn’t pass, it's the start of an important next step for the solar + storage industry on Capitol Hill.
"Will this impact AES's business, or anybody's business, in the next two years? If it were passed today, probably not. But it's setting the right trajectory, the right policy for reforming the system that we all rely on for the energy transition," Smith said. SPW
There are two main things that we need: We need to be able to build our own generation projects. We also need transmission built to connect our projects to load.
Financiers — not homeowners — qualify for domestic content on residential solar
Billy Ludt Senior Editor
Contrary to initial interpretations, it is possible for residential solar projects to take advantage of the domestic content bonus credit in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). However, homeowners aren’t the ones gaining the tax break.
When projects use domestically made solar components, they can tack on an additional 10% to the Investment Tax Credit (ITC), a 30% tax credit valued against the total cost of a renewable energy project. The ITC is a longstanding subsidy in solar that historically has been available across market scales. But domestic content — among other bonus adders in the IRA — is not available to every customer.
Individual homeowners can’t claim the domestic content bonus, but businesses can. To meet domestic content eligibility on a residential project, the array must be leased to the homeowner or the homeowner must enroll in a power purchase agreement. In other words, residential projects can
qualify for the domestic content bonus adder through third-party ownership (TPO), and the business financing the project receives the credit.
“Homeowners and contractors will not be able to capture the credit directly,” said Glenn Woodruff, associate product marketing manager at solar racking manufacturer IronRidge. “Whether the TPO financiers elect to share any benefits of the [domestic content bonus] with installers and/ or homeowners is a matter that is completely up to the discretion of each TPO financier.”
One such TPO financier is Sunnova, a national solar installation company working in the residential and commercial markets. On Sept. 1, Sunnova mandated that all company solar
projects must qualify for domestic content.
“As an American solar energy company, we have a vested interest in ensuring American jobs are positively impacted by our business, and we are pleased to do just this through utilizing the IRA’s domestic content bonus adder,” said Russell Wilkerson, Sunnova’s head of corporate communications. “One of the IRA’s goals was to boost American manufacturing jobs, and Sunnova is proud to support these efforts. Additionally, meeting the investment tax credit … is cash-accretive to Sunnova.”
Recent updates to domestic content
Two years on, the Dept. of the Treasury is continuously updating the IRA, using feedback from industry members to shape its guidance. Earlier this year, another
Sunnova
round of guidance for domestic content qualification was released and the options for submitting the required documents was expanded.
Originally, qualifying for domestic content required submitting data that manufacturers didn’t want to share publicly for competitive pricing’s sake.
“Domestic content compliance is determined off of the manufacturer’s actual production cost of a piece of equipment,” said Tony Ollmann, principal in charge of construction risk services and compliance at Baker Tilly LLP. “It’s not what the owner pays for it; it’s not what the contractor pays for it. You have to go all the way back to the manufacturer, and they have to share their confidential cost book in order to calculate domestic content. That’s a little bit like someone asking to see your W2 before they make you an offer on your next job.”
Treasury’s latest amendment to the domestic content guidance included a new elective safe harbor,
which sets established percentages for domestically manufactured components used on an array instead of basing those values on a manufacturer’s cost sheet. A solar project qualifies for domestic content when it is composed of a certain percentage (currently 40%) of components manufactured in the United States, and that required percentage will increase over the years.
Many U.S. solar manufacturers serving the residential market have started marketing their products as eligible for domestic content this year. SnapNrack, a solar racking and mounting company, is shifting production of its core products to the United States to serve this new residential interest in domestic content.
“When we got word of this, because, obviously, a lot of our customers do installs for these TPO providers, we saw an immediate influx of questions and demand,” said Andrew Wickham, director of products and engineering at SnapNrack. “We
just moved everything that we felt could possibly be considered a ‘rail’ or a ‘fastener’ to be domestically manufactured, in case that’s what TPO providers come to us saying they want.”
Large-scale solar may be the biggest target for IRA benefits, but the small-scale market is cashing in on some of the perks now too.
Combining the fact that it is possible for residential solar projects to qualify for the domestic content bonus adder with safe harbor’s simpler requirements for product submittals positions smaller scale solar in the United States for new growth with higher possible subsidies.
“Just in general, there is no question that [domestic content] has stimulated demand for solar projects,” Ollmann said. SPW
Federal Solar Policy
With the Chevron doctrine overturned, effects to the IRA still unknown
Kelly Pickerel Editor in Chief
This summer, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a 40-year-old precedent that said those with federal agency expertise should interpret ambiguous laws passed by Congress. By a 6-3 vote, Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo reversed the determination of Chevron U.S.A. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, a 1984 case known as the “Chevron doctrine.” Loper Bright now allows federal district court judges to use their own judgement in place of subject matter experts at federal agencies.
A long-time goal of fossil fuel industries and anti-regulation advocates, overturning the Chevron doctrine will likely lead to challenges of many older laws under the Environmental Protection
Agency’s dominion. Rules that limit greenhouse gas emissions and restrict fossil fuel power plant pollution could be under review, now that agencies like the EPA no longer have automatic deference.
Renewable energy supporters are questioning whether aspects of the Inflation Reduction Act may also soon be under review, but as with any Supreme Court ruling, “it’s clear as mud,” said Matt Petroski, partner at accounting firm Armanino.
“The Loper Bright case didn’t mean everything that has ever been written is now null and void. It’s just a different
lens,” he said. “It’s sort of taking the thumb off the scale slightly of this pure deference to a governmental agency. That doesn’t mean there won’t be deference to the governmental agency. It doesn’t mean that the courts will automatically resolve every conflict.
“I think it changes a lot, but it might change nothing,” Petroski continued.
Since the IRA is a tax bill, there is less chance that entities could successfully take aspects to court, said Keith Martin, partner at law firm Norton Rose Fulbright.
“It’s very hard for anybody to bring a policy case against the IRS or Treasury about a statute,” he said. “[Loper Bright]’s greatest effect is probably on environmental regulations, because most of the ones dealing with
Phillip| Adobe Stock
climate change were adopted after big environmental statutes of the 1970s through 1990s, and those statutes were not written with climate change in mind, but the government is trying to adapt them to today’s world.”
Eli Hinckley, partner at law firm Baker Botts, agreed that some of the more ambiguous laws involving EPA regulations may be brought up again, but the IRA was written with a lot clearer language.
“[Loper Bright] specifically addressed the question of an agency providing regulation or rulemaking where there’s some ambiguity and no congressional authority to make those rules,” he said. “Most of the regulations that have come through IRA rulemaking are all very specific — ‘Treasury will make the appropriate regulations to put these rules out.’”
Hinckley did note one area of the IRA that could warrant a review: the new Clean Hydrogen Production Tax Credit
(45V). The industry is still feeling its way around clean hydrogen, and Treasury’s dollars-per-kilogram tax offer might later be determined to be an inadequate equation. Through Loper Bright, a court could instead rule on how 45V would be interpreted.
“With the 45V credit for clean hydrogen, people may argue that there is an overstep in terms of the agency view of what those rules are supposed to be,” Hinckley said. “But I think broadly, [Loper Bright] empowers people to try the courts, rather than the agency, to solve it.”
Petroski also said that the newness of the IRA and renewable energy calculations in general could lead to legal arguments now that Chevron is overturned.
“When I first started diving into [the IRA], my head started spinning. I’m a tax professional, so I’m used to reading the code, I’m used to reading regulations. But it is super technical in green energy,
The new bar for TPO proposals
Aurora isn’t just another tool — it’s a platform that TPO providers trust to quote their products and expedite the approval process. With Aurora, you’ll get AI-powered accuracy, integrated financing, and seamless proposals. You’ll see fewer change orders and rejected designs, and get leases, PPAs, and loans from leading providers — all with one consistent experience for your reps. Aurora is the one platform that helps you optimize your TPO project funnel and get to install faster, with unmatched accuracy, greater flexibility for sales teams, and the trust of leading TPO providers. Aurora can boost your sales with more TPO options, in more markets, than ever before — and help you get faster approvals & payouts for your projects. It’s time to make solar accessible for everyone, and we can help.
understanding kilowatts and how that all breaks down,” he said. “There are some definitions that require some knowledge of a unit of measure. If Treasury in their regulations uses a definition from the EPA or some other expert within the government, [certain groups] may go after it, so [Loper Bright] could open that up. That’s not to say we’ll end up in a different place.”
The largest effect Loper Bright will have on the renewable energy industry, Hinckley said, is just the uncertainty of it all.
“There will be some challenges, and one of the things that causes concern is that people in investment don’t like uncertainty,” he said. “If you start to have challenges that look like they’re going to unwind how some of these rules operate, if you don’t have a clear line of sight or a safe harbor — money doesn’t go to work until you have certainty.” SPW
Ad Index
Leadership Team Sales
CEO Scott McCafferty
310.279.3844 smccafferty@wtwhmedia.com
Executive Vice President Marshall Matheson
805.895.3609 mmatheson@wtwhmedia.com
Senior Vice President Courtney Nagle cseel@wtwhmedia.com 440.523.1685
Ashley N. Burk
737.615.8452 aburk@wtwhmedia.com
Jami Brownlee 224.760.1055 jbrownlee@wtwhmedia.com
Jim Powers 312.925.7793 jpowers@wtwhmedia.com
WTWH Media, LLC: 1111 Superior Avenue, Suite 2600, Cleveland, OH 44114 • Ph: 888.543.2447 • Fax: 888.543.2447
SOLAR POWER WORLD does not pass judgment on subjects of controversy nor enter into disputes with or between any individuals or organizations.
SOLAR POWER WORLD is also an independent forum for the expression of opinions relevant to industry issues. Letters to the editor and by-lined articles express the views of the author and not necessarily of the publisher or publication. Every effort is made to provide accurate information. However, the publisher assumes no responsibility for accuracy of submitted advertising and editorial information. Non-commissioned articles and news releases cannot be acknowledged. Unsolicited materials cannot be returned nor will this organization assume responsibility for their care.
SOLAR POWER WORLD does not endorse any products, programs, or services of advertisers or editorial contributors. Copyright©2024 by WTWH Media, LLC. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, or by recording, or by any information storage or retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher.
SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Free and controlled circulation to qualified subscribers. Non-qualified persons may subscribe at the following rates: U.S. and possessions, 1 year: $125; 2 years: $200; 3 years $275; Canadian and foreign, 1 year: $195; only U.S. funds are accepted. Single copies $15. Subscriptions are prepaid by check or money orders only.
SUBSCRIBER SERVICES: To order a subscription or change your address, please visit our web site at www.solarpowerworldonline.com
SOLAR POWER WORLD - VOLUME 14 ISSUE 6 - (ISSN2164-7135) is published 7 times per year: January, March, May, July, September, November and December by WTWH Media, LLC, 1111 Superior Avenue, 26th Floor, Cleveland, Ohio 44114. Periodicals postage paid at Cleveland, OH and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Solar Power World; 1111 Superior Avenue, 26th Floor, Cleveland, Ohio 44114.
WTWH Media 1111 Superior Ave., Suite 2600, Cleveland, OH 44114 Bruce Sprague (888) 543-2447
Media 1111 Superior Ave., Suite 2600, Cleveland, OH 44114 Courtney Nagle; WTWH Media 1111 Superior Ave., Suite 2600, Cleveland, OH 44114 Kelly Pickerel; WTWH
Join conversations with industry buyers, suppliers, distributors, consultants, and more to explore solutions, exchange ideas, and discover new technologies
The Solar Snake Max for Single Messenger Wire is our new innovative cable management system for AC and DC cables. The clicks maintain NEC 310.15 free air separation allowing the cables to operate efficiently and yield up to 30-watt hours per meter more energy, far surpassing that of trenched or bundled cables.
• Above ground, free air design requires no bundle or raceway derating of cable, saving large amounts of Copper or Aluminum
• Adjustable clicks can accommodate any size cables up to 1250 Kcmil
• Each tier of cables can accommodate a different cable size, facilitating voltage drop cable size step-ups
• The ample cable separation also makes the system IPC compatible for trunk-bus applications
• Snap-together components require no tools to facilitate easy installation, inspection and maintenance
