U.S. solar jobs down for second year due to Trump's tariffs

World
Europe

U.S. solar industry lost 8,000 jobs last year, the second consecutive year of decline, due to uncertainty over the Trump administration's energy and trade policies and a 30 percent tariff on imported solar panels, according to a report released on Tuesday.

The job losses reflect how changing trade and environmental policies can alter the trajectory of an industry that was among the fastest-growing segments of the U.S. energy industry.

The number of jobs in the U.S. solar sector dropped by 3.2 percent in 2018, according to the Solar Jobs Census, released annually by the non-profit research firm The Solar Foundation. The year 2017 saw a loss of 10,000 jobs in the sector. But the report said jobs are expected to rise by seven percent this year.

Since 2010, solar employment has grown by 159 percent, from just over 93,000 to more than 242,000 jobs in all 50 U.S. states, according to the report.

In early 2018, President Donald Trump imposed 30 percent tariffs on imported solar panels to boost domestic manufacturing, the opening salvo in what has become a wide-ranging trade war. The move led developers to cancel or freeze billions of dollars of investments in large-installation projects because most of the solar panels used in the United States are made abroad.

Policies in U.S. states are critical to solar growth, and changes in incentives and rates for projects in large markets led to job losses there, according to the report.

In California, utility procurement slowed because power companies have fulfilled near-term renewable energy procurement requirements. The state's commercial market also slowed due to a shift to rates that are less favorable to solar. In Massachusetts, the commercial market stalled ahead of the introduction of a new incentive scheme at the end of the year.

Solar represents about 2.4 percent of overall U.S. electricity generation, yet it employs twice as many workers as the coal industry and almost five times as many workers as the nuclear industry. In the energy sector, only the oil and natural gas industries have more employment than solar.

Source(s): Reuters