Tag Archives: Contributor

The Tariffs Are Taking A Devastating Toll

By Tony Clifford, CDO of Standard Solar

As a general rule, it doesn’t hurt to be right—but when it comes to the devastating effects the Section 201 solar tariffs are having on the industry, I wish I’d been wrong.

Last year, two foreign-owned companies held the U.S. solar industry hostage to their own selfish needs, and 9,800 people lost their jobs in 2017 alone. And I have to be blunt: 2018 has not gotten off to any better start.

I’ve heard some so-called industry “experts” suggest the tariffs are having the desired effect, i.e. that solar manufacturing jobs are coming back to the United States. They point to a handful of companies that say they’re expanding their module factories and one new factory planned in Jacksonville, Florida, as evidence.

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But as one industry commentator pointed out, the number of jobs gained in the expansions are nowhere near what they’d need to be to make up for the losses. And those who were counting on the Jacksonville factory to make up the difference…well, I’ve got some bad news for you.

The number of jobs that factory is now supposed to be half of what the company had originally pledged (400 vs. 800), and the financial investment isn’t anywhere near the amount of money originally envisioned.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the industry, jobs are still being lost. So far this year, we’ve seen some installation companies laying off employees by the hundreds, and one major racking manufacturer is closing its U.S. operations (in that case, the tariffs were just the fatal blow to a company already suffering from other financial strains, but without the tariffs, I believe they might have survived).

And here’s the infuriating irony: Those two foreign-owned firms for whom the entire industry held its collective breath as their trade complaint made its way through the process, ostensibly so those two companies could survive and advance?

One company was recently purchased by its well-capitalized competitor, and the other—about which I warned you innumerable times last year—is being sold off for parts (literally) by its rapacious largest creditor.

So one wonders if there might have been ulterior motives there after all. Personally, I think the trade complaint was filed primarily to boost valuations for both of the companies in question. As a result, the executives at both may walk away with impressive golden parachutes while the remains of those companies burn to ashes.

Oh, and by the way, no new jobs will be created at either (though in the one case, the sale might mean the 300 employees at its manufacturing plant might keep their jobs so, you know, small victories and all that).

All of this is to say that when I called last year’s trade complaint destructive and devastating, I wasn’t kidding. And though I currently look like some sort of doomsday Nostradamus, there is possibly light at the end of the tunnel—a national bill to remove the tariffs is currently pending before Congress. But it’s something that’s going to take all of us fighting as hard as we ever have to bring that light to the industry.

Fortunately, the solar industry has been in fights like this before and won, so I have no doubt we can win this one, too. It’s time to pick up the phone and start making calls—the battle is too important to your livelihoods to stand idly by and do nothing.

The PV Innovation Race is On

By Nathan Arbitman, Contributor

Like many of you, I’ve committed my career to the cleantech industry because of the moral imperative to accelerate the clean energy revolution, as well as the unprecedented wealth creation opportunity this transformation brings. And I’m always asking myself, how we can make this transition happen even faster?

Last December, my business, DSM Advanced Solar, announced the outcome of the latest SunRISE TechBridge Challenge, in which we partnered with a leading cleantech accelerator (Greentown Labs) and PV science institute (Fraunhofer CSE), to find and accelerate cutting-edge solar startups.

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Through this program, DSM has invested in four of the winning companies:

  • Leading Edge Crystal Technologies (Cambridge, MA). Novel manufacturing process to make high performance silicon wafers at a fraction of the cost.
  • NOMADD Desert Solar Solutions (Saudi Arabia). Low-cost waterless automated solar panel cleaning device, which significantly reduces yield losses due to dust.
  • QD Solar (Toronto, Canada). Next generation photovoltaic cells using colloidal quantum dot cell technology.
  • WattGlass Inc. (Fayatteville, AR). Anti-Reflective glass coatings that also have self-cleaning and anti-fogging properties.

    • (For any other fans out there, this episode of the Energy Gang was recorded live at our December event.)

    This is one way that we drive innovation faster – by bringing together entrepreneurs, corporates, scientists and other key stakeholders to spark novel connections and trigger needed investments. I joined DSM Advanced Solar to create opportunities just like this, because I believe that building provocative and powerful partnerships is one of the best ways to accelerate value creation from advanced technology.

    Two market enablers have struck me over my years in the solar space: 1) The key role of science-based innovations to reduce the cost of generating PV electricity and create value for downstream players; and 2) The glaring need for partnerships to make these innovations a reality. DSM is driving both.

    The stunning cost reduction of solar panels has been largely enabled by billions of dollars of investment and advancement in cells and module materials. As a science-based player with a 100-year track record, DSM develops sustainable materials that increase the efficiency of solar modules, bringing down the cost of solar energy and creating value for customers throughout the value chain.

    DSM materials are featured in over 200 million PV modules installed worldwide, representing over 50GW of power. Our first breakthrough was an Anti-Reflective coating for glass, where we remain the industry leader. We also provide a unique Anti-Soiling coating for hot, dry environments that reduces the soiling rate of PV modules and increases returns for investors; and our Endurance backsheets can enable more power generation than alternative products. Next we’ll launch a novel coating for older solar parks that can immediately increase energy yield by 3%.

    Commercializing these technologies requires a long-term commitment to investing in the solar space, a phenomenal team, and capable partners with a shared vision of success. Innovative partnerships are critical to accelerate value creation in this market—now more than ever. We all know that no one company can do this alone. That’s why we routinely work across oceans with companies large and small, from module makers to project developers to asset owners, to bring our innovations—and those of our partners—to life.

    DSM has been operating for over 116 years, but we’re just getting started. If you share our appreciation of the power of science-based innovation to create competitive advantage, then we should talk. To learn more about DSM and our offerings, contact me via LinkedIn or visit www.dsm.com/solar

    Nathan Arbitman is the Director of Strategy & Innovation for DSM Advanced Solar.

    The Energy Show – Regional Energy Policy Leadership with Tim McRae

    The Energy Show with Barry Cinnamon

    Public policies have a tremendous influence on the energy we use, as well as the condition of our environment. State and Federal legislators make these policies with input from private citizens and businesses. The solar industry quite frankly has thrived with policies in favor of clean renewable energy, and it’s no accident that California is a leader in solar and clean renewable energy.

    The Silicon Valley Leadership Group (SVLG) helps advocate for favorable business and citizen policies in Silicon Valley and they have made a tremendous impact not only in California but also in Washington DC.

    SolarWakeup Contributor: As They Sowed, So Shall We Reap

    By Tony Clifford

    The latest numbers from The Solar Foundation’s National Solar Jobs Census didn’t surprise me, but they certainly put me in a bad mood.

    9,800.

    That’s the number of solar workers who had jobs at the end of 2016 who, as the calendar settles in to 2018, no longer have them—and that number is only the beginning of an avalanche of job losses that will result from the mystifying decision to impose tariffs on imported solar modules because two foreign-owned companies couldn’t compete.

    Suniva and SolarWorld.

    Remember those names when you’re planning your next project. Those are the two companies that cost the solar industry nearly 10,000 jobs as clearly as if they’d handed out the pink slips themselves.

    In the fantasy world only SolarWorld and Suniva inhabited, the tariffs wouldn’t destroy jobs, they’d grow jobs. They’d protect jobs. They’d be the beginning of an unending solar boom. And some people, including the president believed them.

    But SolarWorld and Suniva were never in this for you. They were always in this for themselves. And their executives are unethical, not ignorant.

    They were fully aware of what tariffs would do to the U.S. solar industry, but their aim was to get their foreign owners more value in bankruptcy, playing with your livelihoods like they were so many chips in a poker game.

    While the Trump tariff was not announced until January 2018, uncertainty over the trade case was the primary factor that caused the 3.8% decrease in the number of American solar jobs. The trade case, filed last April by the two shameless charlatans named above, forced many solar firms (including Standard Solar) to reconsider their 2017 hiring plans.

    The solar industry expected slower growth in 2017 because of the record number of megawatts installed in 2016 as a result of the (previous) uncertainty engendered by the battle over the investment tax credit (a crisis that, while averted, caused 2016 to be an explosive year for solar growth that couldn’t be repeated immediately).

    But let’s look at hard numbers: Between 2012 and 2016, the average year-to-year growth in solar jobs was more than 20% annually. Everyone expected that rate of growth to slow, but no one—not even the most pessimistic of analysts—expected an actual loss of jobs. No one expected that prior to April.

    Then what history will call “the Section 201 trade case” happened, and all bets were off. We pleaded, the Solar Energy Industries Association pleaded, nearly every sane voice in the industry screamed at the top of their lungs that tariffs would result in job losses. The final estimate was 23,000 in 2018 alone. And we’re reaping the whirlwind of the “Trump tariff” that was sown in the hot air and empty promises made by the two petitioners.

    My biggest worry is that the solar industry has yet to see the worst impacts of the Trump tariff. We are already beginning to hear about pending layoffs, especially in companies heavily involved in the utility-scale sector. A disturbing note in the Solar Foundation report is that “jobs went up in 29 states with emerging solar markets.”

    These states—Texas and much of the southeast and Midwest—are the states that were just becoming cost-competitive in the previous two years. The increasing cost of solar modules as a result of the Trump tariff will devastate solar development in these states—and others—in 2018 and beyond. My stomach is in knots at the thought of what these already depressing numbers will metastasize into in next year’s report.

    This is what happens when you have a president who inexplicably allows the interests of two foreign-owned companies to hold the American solar industry hostage, creating volatility and uncertainty in a market that needed steadiness. So, although nothing can destroy the solar industry, these Trump tariff wounds are going to take time to heal—time many of the displaced workers don’t have.

    Tony Clifford is the CDO of Standard Solar and member of the SEIA Board of Directors