Big News! US Treasury Department's Matsuke: Solar projects using Chinese photovoltaic cells can apply for IRA subsidies
Last Friday (May 12th), the US Treasury Department issued a clarification stating that developers of local solar projects can apply for new IRA subsidies for the project, even if the solar panels used in the project include solar batteries made in China.
This also means that local photovoltaic manufacturers in the United States can import photovoltaic cells from China and assemble them into components for use in photovoltaic projects, and can receive a 30% IRA tax credit, as well as an additional 10% project cost subsidy for locally manufactured projects.
This is greatly beneficial for the domestic photovoltaic manufacturing industry in the United States and the export of photovoltaic cells from China.
However, the new regulations state that if American solar developers want to receive all the tax credits provided by the IRA, they need to include a certain proportion of products developed, produced, or manufactured domestically in the United States in their photovoltaic projects.
The guidelines proposed by the Ministry of Finance state that standard solar projects will include products such as modules, trackers, and inverters. To meet this requirement, 40% of these components must be manufactured in the United States.
In other words, under current regulations, American solar energy producers can continue to import solar cells while striving to meet the 40% domestic content threshold for other components. SEIA believes that this will "trigger a wave of investment in clean energy equipment and components made in the United States".
But the current problem is that solar cells account for about 30% of the cost of solar facility products, and there is currently no supply of polycrystalline silicon cells in the United States. Polycrystalline silicon based batteries are the dominant technology in the market. The American Solar Industry Association has proposed that components assembled in the United States should be eligible for subsidies, and the origin of their batteries should not be taken into account.
