EV and Solar/Wind Tax Credits

EV rebates too!

It looks like the solar panels are about to get more expensive.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/22/business/trump-tariffs-washing-machines-solar-panels.html

Not sure how I feel about this. On one hand it may help US solar producers, but I doubt it will have a long term impact in getting the solar panels made here, as I don't think investors will want to risk their money on artificial pricing that could easily go away.

On the other hand, the tariffs will only help to slow down solar installations in the US, making them less competitive against other options, which may be the goal of the tariffs, just to piss off the renewable crowd. Trolling on a larger stage.

vinny11950 said:

It looks like the solar panels are about to get more expensive.

Click to expand...

Will be interesting to see if the multiple grid supplier PV plants I put proposals in on last week come off the ground. They were all offshore panels.

Tempting to buy another 6kW while they're under $0.65/W...

The annoying thing about all this BS is that it just puts the US even further behind an inevitable transition...that will march forward despite the US.

I dont think its much of an impact. Panel costs are so cheap these days that install and BOS parts are a much larger percentage of installed cost. The rush was on when panels got to around $2 a watt. Even with tariffs I think they come in less than $1 a watt. Folks are voluntarily increasing the price of their installed system by the amount of the tariff by using micro-inverters where they are not needed. (Note, micros make sense for some installs with shading but for many installs it just makes it easier for the installer as the math is lot easier)

Heck my original panels were around $6 a watt and my Evergreens were around $1 a watt and my Shucos were around $0.95. I see close out panels in the $0.70 range so the tariff will bring them back to my costs until some offshore company starts a sham assembly plant to get around the tariff.