The U.S. Department of The Treasury issued a clarification last Friday stating that developers of local solar projects can apply for new IRA subsidies, even if the modules used in the projects include photovoltaic cells made in China.
The statement means that local photovoltaic manufacturers in the United States can import cells from China and assemble them into modules for use in solar projects, and can receive a 30% IRA tax credit, as well as an additional 10% project cost subsidy for locally manufactured projects.
This is greatly beneficial for the domestic photovoltaic manufacturing industry in the United States and the export of solar cells from China.
However, the new regulations state that if American solar developers want to receive all the tax credits provided by the IRA, they need to include a certain proportion of products developed, produced, or manufactured domestically in the United States in their photovoltaic projects.
The guidelines proposed by the Department required that at least of 40% of components in the standard solar projects, including modules, trackers, and inverters must be manufactured in the United States.
Under current regulations, American solar energy producers can continue to import solar cells while striving to meet the 40% domestic content threshold for other modules. SEIA believes that this will trigger a wave of investment in clean energy equipment and modules made in the United States.
But the current problem is that solar cells account for about 30% of the cost of solar facility products, and there is so far no supply of polysilicon cells in the United States, which is main supply in the market. The SEIA has proposed that modules assembled in the United States should be eligible for subsidies, and the origin of their cells should not be taken into account.
