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Trump’s tariffs impact Oregon solar industry in different ways
I
t’s been more than six months since President Donald
Trump slapped tariffs on imported solar cells and
modules.
Some manufacturers, like Oregon’s SolarWorld
Industries America, have applauded the tariffs. But the
tariffs have been seen as an unneeded obstacle for other
companies with clean energy projects in the state.
Grape Solar, a Eugene-based solar manufacturer and
distributor, is one business that has seen the negative
impact of Trump’s tariffs.
In an email to Eugene Weekly, Steve Bouton, a technical
manager with Grape Solar, said imported products now
cost more due to the tariffs. Chinese firms that manufacture
solar cells and modules are experiencing three layers of
tariffs, which were started in 2012 and recently added to
by Trump.
SolarWorld Industries Americas was a co-petitioner in
a case that led to Trump’s 30 percent tariffs on solar firms
in China and the rest of the world that was announced on
Jan. 22. Tim Brightbill was trade counsel for SolarWorld,
an Oregon-based solar company.
He argues that Chinese firms can circumvent most of
these tariffs if they export from a manufacturing plant in
another country, like Vietnam.
And he says, “The tariffs have helped to stabilize the
market and give U.S. manufacturers a chance to compete.”
But a problem with the tariffs on imported solar cells and
modules, Bouton says, is that the U.S. doesn’t have enough
developed solar component supply chains, so Grape Solar
• The Register-Guard
continues its downward
spiral under the ownership
of GateHouse Media. EW has
heard from multiple sources
that the RG’s editorial pages
are being gutted. The four-page
Sunday Commentary section is
to be eliminated, and the daily
opinion pages will be reduced
from two pages to one. This is
heartbreaking. EW will continue to
run all the letters and viewpoints
we can fit, but we hope
community outcry can convince
GateHouse not to further diminish
the RG and its community voice in
pursuit of a higher profit margin.
will still have to rely on imported components, which are
affected by the tariffs.
“This has significantly lowered solar energy’s
competitiveness compared to traditional energy sources
such as oil and gas, and unfortunately the majority of the
energy market is still very much driven by price,” he says.
He adds that with threats from climate change, trade
policy should aim to support clean energy.
According to Brightbill, despite the help from the tariffs
for SolarWorld, “it’s still a difficult market due to China’s
over-capacity and subsidies, which repeatedly forced prices
downward.” But he says, thanks these tariffs, SolarWorld has
been able to maintain manufacturing activity in Hillsboro.
Interestingly enough, only a few months after
celebrating the tariffs, SolarWorld is now in the process of
being purchased by California-based SunPower. Brightbill
says he’s heard the plan is to move some of SunPower’s
manufacturing from Mexico up to Hillsboro.
The tariffs can be understood under the concept of the
“infant industrial” argument, Brightbill says. The U.S.
solar industry needs protection to grow and compete with
countries like China. The U.S. solar industry, however, has
been active for quite some time considering that President
Jimmy Carter installed solar panels on the White House
in 1979.
On the other hand, protectionist policies hit smaller
businesses the hardest, says Jon Miller, executive director
of Oregon Solar Energy Industries Association (OSEIA).
He says that’s because smaller companies have the least
• It is remarkable that John
McCain, ever the warrior, is
torturing Donald Trump even
after the senator’s death. He
has eclipsed Trump in the media,
the cruelest cut of all for this
president. McCain has banned
Trump from his funeral and
invited Bush and Obama to give
the eulogies. He has inspired
veterans organizations to insist
that the White House flag fly at
half-staff until after the burial.
We wonder if any of this will
affect Trump’s support inside
and outside the Republican
Party. He wasn’t without his
flaws, but if the late Sen. McCain
can help defeat this man he
detested, for good reason, it will
be the closing chapter in a truly
amazing life.
• Remember “Classical
Gas”? It was the instrumental
solo that aspiring guitar players
of a certain age tried desperately
to learn after Eugene’s Mason
Williams released it as a single
— and won three Grammy
awards — in 1968. Williams may
be popularly known as a one-hit
wonder, but he wrote for the
Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
and Saturday Night Live, and
around Eugene he’s also been a
gracious gentleman, supporting
the Eugene Symphony as
a frequent performer at its
holiday shows in the past and
supporting the environment
with his 1984 album Of Time and
Rivers Flowing. Williams turned
80 years old last week. Happy
birthday, Mason!
amount of buying power or ability to make deals with
manufacturing companies.
“We have a lot of small installers around the state,”
Miller says. “Unfortunately they get hit hardest.”
In addition to the tariffs on solar cells and modules, the
Trump administration placed tariffs on steel and aluminum,
which are used when installing solar projects. Bouton of
Grape Solar says the company has seen an increase in the
cost of solar panels assembled in the U.S.
The Solar Energy Industries Association says the
Trump administration further punished China on Aug. 23
by implementing an increased 25 percent tariff on such
items as steel, aluminum and certain batteries and products
used in solar installments.
As of now, it’s unknown how much Trump’s tariffs have
impacted sales because Oregon Department of Energy
Residential Energy Tax Credit expired at the end of 2017,
muddying the picture.
The Energy Trust of Oregon is a nonprofit that helps
utility customers save energy and generate renewable
power and one way it does this is through cash incentives.
At the end of its second quarter, it saw 310 residential
customers apply for solar incentives, a 40 percent decrease
from 2017’s second quarter.
Miller says losing the tax credit has resulted in layoffs
of about 10 percent of solar employees. The tax credit
probably won’t come back, but he says he and the OSEIA
are working with legislators to pass some sort of support to
encourage installing solar projects.
The tariffs have resulted in a slight price increase for
solar projects, says Kelli Hewitt, president of E2 Solar Inc.
in Bend. Then again, some solar companies in Oregon also
prepared for the tariffs by stockpiling materials.
Brightbill agrees, but he says he sees a strong future
for U.S. solar demand that will translate to supporting
domestic solar manufacturing.
“I think there was a lot of stockpiling and hoarding,” he
says. “As that goes away, there will be more demand for
U.S. products.”
Oregon was an early leader in solar deployment and at
one time ranked ninth in solar-installed capacity, according
to a 2017 report by OSEIA and The Green Energy Institute.
The state has since dropped to 19th in the U.S.
Oregon is ranked high in manufacturing, which will be
protected further with Trump’s tariffs. However, with the
combination of losing the state solar tax credit and active
tariffs on cheaper, imported solar components, the state’s
ranking for solar capacity will most likely continue to
dwindle. ■
• Jeff Merkley is hardly a
reality TV star. That’s good. In
the 2020 presidential election,
we the voters should want the
opposite, a smart, truth-telling,
hard-working, compassionate
leader. Meerah Powell’s cover
story this week explores
Oregon’s junior senator as a
candidate for that job. Political
chatter suggests that he would
need to gather a Kennedy-
style staff. Could he do that?
Is Washington Gov. Jay Insley
a stronger candidate from the
Northwest? Maybe. Are Merkley
and Oregon too out-of-the-loop
for a presidential run? Ever hear
of Jimmy Carter from Georgia
and Bill Clinton from Arkansas?
Merkley hasn’t made the final
decision. What do you think?
Should Jeff Merkley be our next
president?
• Fall is here for the City
Club of Eugene. Forums begin
again on Sept. 7 at noon in the
Baker Center with a look at public
safety in downtown Eugene by
Eugene Police Chief Skinner and
Brittany Quick-Warner, director
of the Chamber of Commerce.
It would be nice to include the
perspective of some of our local
homeless advocates, to discuss
a population that businesses
often blame for downtown flaws.
Also, working with the League
of Women Voters, the club will
host candidates and forums
on ballot measures all this fall
before the important elections in
November.
SLANT INCLUDES SHORT OPINION PIECES, OBSERVATIONS AND RUMOR-CHA SING NOTES COMPILED BY THE E W EDITORIAL BOARD. HEARD ANY GOOD RUMORS LATELY? CONTAC T EDITOR@EUGENE WEEKLY.COM
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A ugust 30, 2018 • eugeneweekly.com