EGEB: Grandma will freeze in the dark, 3-10% system price increases due to Trump Tariff, more

Electrek Green Energy Brief: A daily technical, financial, and political review/analysis of important green energy news. Featured Image Source

Trump tariff on imported solar panels at 30% – residential projects could increase $750-1000, cost up to 23,000 jobs – I know this was posted here yesterday, so leading the brief with it is kinda goofy…but it’s among the most important stories for the US solar industry since April of 2017 when it popped up. Don’t expect the industry to crash – but do expect to see some of the nicer solar panels to cost more. And those of you in states where solar was just getting to be interesting – you’re going to want to put it off for a year to let system prices fall again and match the increased tariff price.

Bob Murray, the coal baron with the president’s ear – Only coal and nuclear power, he argues, can provide a “reliable, resilient, secure electric power grid”. If coal falls below its current level of 30%, he warns, “the lights will go out and Grandma will freeze in the dark.” Not sure if Mr Murray knows this, but coal fell below 30% of electricity in Q2 2017, and is expected to be below 30% for all of 2018 (and forever hereafter). Better go check on grandma.

China to phase out PV feed-in tariffs after 13th 5-year Plan, says CPIA – Feed-in tariff rates for PV systems which generate electricity completely for own use will be the first to be cut beginning 2021, as grid parity is expected to happen in 2020. For PV systems with all generated electricity on grid, feed-in tariff rates for those in Category 1 areas will be canceled in 2022 and those for Category 2 and 3 areas will be canceled no later than 2026. China sees a post subsidy world for solar power starting very soon. Now that they have a carbon tax in place, plus heavy political pushing against polluting – expect to see fewer ‘dirty air’ headlines from the country.

India’s pending solar tariff – My reading is that #India will impose a safeguard / anti-dumping duty on #solar cells and panels in the range of 8-15%. The idea will be to keep tariffs under INR 3/kWh (5¢/kWh) even after the duty. Interesting way of going about a tariff – aiming to make sure the locals don’t get hurt with too high electricity prices, but still trying to protect your local manufacturers. Difficult balancing act. Connecting this post with the following post – if the US tariffs are potentially illegal, what about these?

Regarding the US solar tariff. It’s probably an illegal action per our agreements as a member of the World Trade Organization. Both Mexico and South Korea have communicated that they will respond. From what I’ve read it could take 18-24 months before something like this actually hits a court. Historically, Section 201 cases – what the solar tariff is – don’t do well in court.

https://twitter.com/DavidInglesTV/status/955604405478309888

The oil and coal industry must have worked hard on this list of 247 sicknesses associated with wind farms. Among the list – herpes, chest pain, anxiety, mutated chickens, and dogs staring at walls.

Our (free) book https://t.co/eoxDGtwDUL lists 247 symptoms & diseases said to be caused by #windfarms See p279 & 56. More plagues than in the Old Testament My favourites: haemorrhoids, disoriented echidnas, skin cancer Yours? pic.twitter.com/9egCltDWZo

— Simon Chapman AO https://bsky.app/profile/simoncha (@SimonChapman6) January 21, 2018

Featured image is from the Twitter account of Dr. Thomas Hillig. “#EcoResort 32 #Maldives: New @Hurawalhi #LuxuryTravel #Resort powered by #solar #PV #Renewables #ActOnClimate #ClimateChange #Sustainability“

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