As industry players are nervously watching the administration’s decision to temporarily freeze and review several provisions within the Inflation Reduction Act, the Solar Energy Manufacturers of America Coalition spells out its priorities.
The Solar Energy Manufacturers of America (SEMA) Coalition, an organization of U.S. solar producers that champions solar incentives in the 2022 federal Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), asserted its policy headings for 2025.
Industry players are watching the new administration’s decision to temporarily freeze and review several IRA solar provisions, including separate initiatives to spread solar to low-income and farming communities.
In this light, SEMA presented its top policy priorities by calling for the federal government to:
- De-risk the industry: The administration should implement America-first trade and tax policies to combat China’s monopolistic control of the global solar supply chain.
- Reshore the solar supply chain: Congress should support tax provisions that spur American manufacturing investments, lower energy costs and reduce dependence on China, notably the Section 45X Advanced Manufacturing Production Credit and Domestic Content Bonus.
- Create jobs and build factories across America: The federal government should provide a level playing field for American manufacturers and workers, and drive investment across all components in the solar supply chain.
The new administration has made clear that it is reviewing the IRA’s initiatives and placed a 90-day freeze on them beginning immediately after Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20.
Meanwhile, the 30% investment tax credit (ITC) on solar installations through 2032 with diminishing rates in years thereafter, remains untouched for now, as changes would require action by Congress.
SEMA’s overarching goal is to rebuild U.S. solar-manufacturing capacities, supply chains and domestic employment. Since 2012, the federal government has repeatedly said that the Chinese solar industry has harmed U.S. domestic producers by exploiting improper government subsidies to charge prices below its production costs within the U.S. market.
As many U.S. solar factories went out of business prior to the IRA’s passage, so too did the manufacturing facilities that supplied them with input materials, such as polysilicon ingots. But the IRA is turning the tide.
The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) estimated that 73 new solar and storage manufacturing facilities have come online because of federal manufacturing incentives, and 48 facilities are under active construction, amounting to investments of $40.2 billion. Furthermore, these investments will bring the total planned capacity of solar modules to over 50 GW, solar cells to 56 GW, wafers to 24 GW and ingots to 13 GW. There is growth further upstream as well, with solar-tracker manufacturing now exceeding 80 GW.
Mike Carr, executive director of SEMA, characterized the federal response needed to counter Chinese trade aggression as a three-legged stool composed of existing tariffs on incoming solar exports from China, tax-credit incentives for domestic production and bonus tax credits for U.S. solar installations employing domestically manufactured products.
But for these measures to work well, they must instill industry players with confidence in their certainty and reliability, Carr said.
SEMA’s membership encompasses 17 companies involved in producing solar wafers, cells and modules, perovskite products, polysilicon and solar thin films. SEMA says its corporate members cumulatively employ 12,000 workers.
