The Trump Administration has rescinded an order made under former President Joe Biden that designated solar photovoltaic technologies as necessary elements of national security.
Swift Current Double Black Diamond solar project in southeast Sangamon County, first day of panel installation Monday, March 20, 2023 near Virden, Illinois. Rich Saal/Swift Current Energy
In a document published Thursday morning on the Federal Register, President Donald Trump reversed 18 orders and actions from previous administrations, including Presidential Determination No. 2022-15, which under the Defense Production Act of 1950, encouraged the domestic production of solar PV modules. The initial determination published in June 2022 stated that without this order, the “United States industry cannot reasonably be expected to provide the capability for the needed industrial resource … in a timely manner.”
“I find that action to expand the domestic production capability for solar photovoltaic modules and module components is necessary to avert an industrial resource or critical technology item shortfall that would severely impair national defense capability,” Biden stated in the document.
The Defense Production Act of 1950 is built on the notion that U.S. national defense relies on a domestic manufacturing base capable of supplying necessary materials during wartime or acts of terrorism. Other orders rescinded Thursday affected production of electrolyzers, fuel cells, electric heat pumps and insulation, as well as aid to minority groups, social initiatives and worker empowerment.
“I have determined that the following additional recissions are necessary to advance the policy of the United States to restore common sense to the federal government and unleash the potential of American citizens,” Trump stated in the reversal.
““I have determined that the following additional recissions are necessary to advance the policy of the United States to restore common sense to the federal government and unleash the potential of American citizens,” Trump stated in the reversal.”
Taking apart Uncle Joe’s Executive Orders in the name of “economizing the government” is more punative and myopic at best. This (National Security) consideration has been with the U.S. for decades and is only getting some sparse press when an entitiy like NERC announces the bulk of spare parts warehoused across the U.S. to keep the grids up are made in foreign countries. The U.S. doesn’t have the capacity to form and assemble massive power transformers used in large coal fired, natural gas fired and nuclear plants for output from the generators at these sites to the transmission grid. Recent news items also telegraph, the U.S. needs more sources of rare earth metals, like the agreement with the Ukraine is supposed to supply instead of relying exclusively on China for refined rare earth metals. I guess the latest/greatest is China has increased the cost of Bismuth by 500% so far.
Ok, so what does this mean?