Desperate for Energy
With man-made and natural catastrophes running rampant in the world, the US needs as much energy as possible to prevent prices from ballooning further. American gas prices tell you all you need to know, and renewable energy has become more important than ever. Unfortunately, renewables have suffered from heavy supply chain logjams, causing prices to increase and the risk of power shortages increasing.
As a result, President Biden has invoked executive action to try and help fix the problem. Biden has authorized solar energy parts from Southeast Asian countries to be imported duty-free, removing taxes involved. This will allow the country to continue building new solar installations and continue with projects, which has some people happy, but others are confused. This decision has come to negate an investigation into imports by the Commerce Department that could place tariffs on it, and the controversy all boils down to manufacturers versus installers. Manufacturers are the ones against it as they believe that it prevents them from growing and catching up to rival companies in nations like China, but installers and developers believe this is the right move as projects can now move on. In fact, solar installation companies like SunPower and Enphase rose by 6 percent on Monday as a result of the news. Biden cites the Russia-Ukraine conflict and natural disasters as the reasoning to invoke this act, and in a statement, he said that they are still looking to expand domestic production. This will help the US in the short-term, but it’s up to Biden on how long this lasts as manufacturers are right about falling behind China. In the meantime, Enphase and SunPower can continue to reap the benefits provided by the action.
I am not a financial advisor and my comments should never be taken as financial advice. Investments come with risk, so always do your research and analysis beforehand.
