Solar Panel Prices Jump on Trade Complaint
Date Posted: August 7, 2017
Posted In: News,
From St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Trade and energy — two key talking points under President Donald Trump — are often siloed into separate policy conversations, but now find themselves on a possible collision course as U.S. officials weigh a tariff on imported solar panels.
A rare type of trade complaint issued by Suniva, a Georgia solar panel manufacturer that recently filed for bankruptcy, seeks a substantial tariff on the cheaper, foreign-made panels that dominate global supply.
While the company argues that the measure is needed for domestic producers to compete, many fear that the request, if granted, threatens to upend one of the country’s fastest growing industries by shutting off access to low-cost arrays.
Though the pending case is still more than a month away from a resolution, the uncertainty surrounding the mere prospect of the tariff has put projects on hold and driven solar panel prices up — a crunch companies across the nation and in St. Louis are experiencing firsthand.
One area business to feel the pressure is McCarthy Building Companies. The St. Louis-based construction firm does wide-ranging work that includes renovation of the Gateway Arch grounds, but it has carved a niche in recent years designing and building large-scale solar projects for private, third-party developers across the United States.
“In the last two months, we’ve seen a 20 percent increase in the price of the panels,” said Scott Canada, McCarthy’s senior vice president of renewable energy. “Everyone’s trying to lock in the price now before they see a potential tariff price impact.”