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Washington, DC – Today, following the Biden administration’s announcement of updates to the domestic content bonus established in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), Mike Carr, Executive Director of the Solar Energy Manufacturers for America (SEMA) Coalition, released the following statement:
“We commend the Biden administration for providing needed clarity for developers looking to access the domestic content bonus for solar deployment this year. The existing guidance needed clarification, and the supplemental guidance today provides a workable solution that will continue our progress toward meeting our climate goals. Following up on the President’s clearly stated intention Tuesday to promote and protect American manufacturing of the entire solar supply chain, we are also encouraged to see the Treasury Department recognize the centrality of “the IRA’s goals of incentivizing U.S. solar manufacturing,including solar wafer production” as they work to develop the long term guidance for this credit. Swiftly and successfully converting this intent to domestic content guidance is critical to investments in major facilities supporting thousands of jobs, so we look forward to working with the administration to expeditiously produce workable guidance as soon as possible. Breaking the Chinese cartel on wafer manufacturing is at the core of a sustainable U.S. solar manufacturing supply chain and we are very pleased to see the administration take action to address this fundamental dynamic.
As Secretary Yellen has noted, the unlevel playing field from which Chinese-headquartered manufacturers are benefiting does not serve our national security interests, our economic interests, or the interests of advancing our climate goals. It is critical we move forward hand in hand with the Biden administration to maximize the impact of the tools within the IRA for American energy security and manufacturing jobs while continuing to drive down energy costs for Americans. We also must thank the authors of the IRA provisions for their letter to Treasury making clear their intention that U.S. wafer and polysilicon production be incentivized by the domestic content bonus - their advocacy was, and will continue to be, crucial to make sure Americans realize the full benefits of this historic legislation. Our members are ready to build an American solar supply chain now, and we look forward to working with the Treasury Department to press forward with the speed needed to meet the moment.”
Contact:
Philippa Martinez-Berrier
philippa@semacoalition.org
