Trump Boosts US Solar Manufacturing With Section 232 Order

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Now that the dust has settled over US President Donald Trump’s “American Energy Dominance” plan, it’s clear that the President didn’t really mean to catch solar power with the same hook he has deployed against the domestic wind industry. The solar industry continues to dominate new capacity additions to the nation’s grid, and now the President has ordered up a new incentive program to boost the domestic supply of polysilicon, the key ingredient in silicon solar cells.

Solar Power Insists Upon Itself

It’s a mystery why Trump has been fighting both wind and solar power. After all, between the two of them, wind and solar are the most economical and accessible domestic energy resources on the market today. For that matter, Trump’s “American Energy Dominance” plan supports other renewable energy resources, namely, biomass, hydro, and geothermal.

The Trump administration justifies leaving wind and solar out of the Energy Dominance loop based a specious “reliability” standard, stipulating that power plants should produce electricity on demand, 24/7, regardless of the weather or time of day. That effectively cuts out both solar power and wind.

However, all things considered, it sure looks like solar simply got caught in the crossfire while the real battle has raged between Trump and wind power, more specifically between Trump and offshore wind turbines, which have been a giant-sized bête noire festering under the President’s skin ever since an offshore wind farm planted itself within view of a Trump golf course in Scotland back in 2012.

Solar Manufacturers To Trump: We’re Not Dead Yet!

With the help of the Republican majority in Congress, Trump has slowed the pace of solar growth in the US, but the pace is still impressive. With superior economics and a rapid construction timeline, utility scale solar has dominated new capacity additions in the US in recent years by a wide margin, helped along by the booming energy storage industry. Wind is actually hanging in there too, for the time being. Everything else — including natural gas, coal, and oil as well as biomass, geothermal, and hydro — is far behind due to their less competitive market positions, longer speed-to-power timelines, and, in the case of natural gas, a years-long backlog on turbine orders.

Solar manufacturing is also persisting, despite having taken some hits. In May, the trade organization Solar Energy Industries Association staged a solar and storage manufacturing expo in Washington, DC, aimed at highlighting the fact that the US solar industry recently completed the on-shoring of every major element in the solar power supply chain.  That’s quite a feat, considering that domestic solar manufacturing was all but dead in the water in the early 2000’s.

Still, solar manufacturers are not out of the woods yet. On July 28, the Federal Communications Commission notified everyone that it has added power inverters to the list of banned imports under a national security justification aimed primarily at China (inverters are devices that convert the DC output from solar panels into a usable AC form).

In another sign that the President’s purported interest in attracting foreign investors stops at the door of China, earlier this year the firm Rhodium Group estimates that Chinese clean energy investors walked away from almost $3 billion in proposed manufacturing projects in the US over a 12-month period ending in March.

A Major Catalyst For US Solar Manufacturing

Adding to the confused state of affairs is Trump’s proclamation of August 6, issued under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. While the impact is mixed, some solar stakeholders are already celebrating.

The new Section 232 order sets a minimum price for imported polysilicon, and it also tasks Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick with creating and overseeing an incentive program to manufacture polysilicon in the US. As indicated by the news organization Solar Builder among others, that’s a long term solution to the here-and-now price increases resulting from Trump’s order.

Still, SEIA has taken a middle-of-the-road approach. The organization issued a public statement of appreciation for the new incentive program while observing that the new price floor creates new challenges for US manufacturers.

Adding to the glass half full perspective, Solar Builder also cites Aaron Hall of the solar and storage firm Anza, who anticipates that the new Section 232 policy will “become a major catalyst for U.S. manufacturing.”

“Domestic wafer production has become dramatically more valuable overnight, and we expect to see significant new investment in that part of the supply chain over the next six months,” Anza told Solar Builder.

No, Really, Trump Loves Solar Power; He Just Hates Wind

Among other stakeholders reacting to the new Section 232 order is the US branch of Japan-based TOYO, which has been setting up solar facilities in the solar-friendly state of Texas.

“TOYO welcomes President Trump’s action under Section 232 and is committed to supporting the Administration’s objectives through substantial, long-term investment in the United States,” TOYO Chairman and CEO Takahiko Onozukain a press statement, drawing attention to his company’s 2-gigawatt solar module factory in Houston, its  $357 million in vestment in a heterojunction (HJT) cell facility, and its plans for building out a domestic solar manufacturing supply chain connecting US-made American polysilicon with onshore wafer, cell, and module manufacturing.

The firm’s CSO, Rhone Resch, further fleshed out what his company makes of the Trump administration’s objectives. In a statement describing TOYO’s supply chain plans moving forward, Resch cited “the Administration’s objective of establishing a secure and competitive American solar industry.”

Wind, Not So Much

So, there it is. A “secure and competitive American solar industry” is the objective of the Trump administration. The numbers certainly seem to bear that out. In addition to continued growth in the utility-scale sector, rooftop solar arrays are also adding to the total. “In 2026, the United States surpassed 6 million solar installations, just two short years after it reached 5 million installations,” notes SEIA.

“Current projections show that this momentum will continue. Every year from now through 2030, the solar industry is expected to install an additional 40 GW of capacity,” SEIA adds, noting residential rooftops account for about 97% of all solar installations in the US.

Contrast that rosy outlook with the environment for wind developers, particularly in the offshore area. Trump has taken extraordinary measures to kill the US offshore wind industry in its cradle. That includes refusing to issue new leases for federally owned offshore areas, which a federal judge agreed the President has the authority to do. Last December the same judge, though, ruled Trump cannot suspend wind projects in the pipeline under the pretext off specious re-reviews. Last week an appeals court affirmed that judgement, allowing some projects to move forward.

Trump also tried, and ultimately failed, to halt construction on five offshore wind projects on the East Coast. Now the flop sweat is showing. In the latest act of desperation, the Trump administration is spending billions of taxpayer dollars to buy back federal offshore wind leases from developers. Not without a fight, though. State Attorneys General on both coasts are challenging the buyouts in court.

Readers, what do you think. Are wind stakeholders picking apart the new, solar-friendly Section 232 order right now, in an effort to build a case that the federal government is unfairly discriminating against the wind industry? Drop a note in the discussion thread…

Photo: The US solar power profile keeps growing, and some solar stakeholders anticipate an additional boost from the President’s new Section 232 order under the 1962 Trade Expansion Act (cropped, courtesy of US Department of Energy).