Thread by @tommatzzie

1/ Quick take on the Trump tariff on imported solar cells is that people are going to lose their jobs. Simple Math: Tariffs increases solar costs. Higher costs means less solar. Less solar means fewer jobs. #Solar

2/ Trump country will lose out the most. Big growth in utility scale solar is in the Southeast, Texas and Southwest. All those Southeast solar markets will be hurt MORE by Trump tariffs because they are the most cost sensitive #Solar

3/ The regions of the country with high electricity prices like California and Massachusetts will be hurt but not as much as Trump country. CA and MA markets will see lower margins for developers but don't expect lots of cancellations. Still TBD. #solar

4/ Segments that won't be hurt as much include community solar and rooftop solar. Commercial solar and utility-scale solar will be hurt more. All states with large community solar markets voted for Hillary. #Solar

5/ Early estimate is that 23,000 solar jobs will be lost and billions of solar investments will be cancelled or delayed. There are lots of projects under development right now that will see losses. #Solar

6/ Lots of details still to be figured out including exclusions for specific countries or specific technologies. For example, one absurdity is that @SunPower might get caught in this. They have both different technology AND THEY ARE AN AMERICAN COMPANY. #Solar

7/ Another dumb thing about solar tariffs is that this is a tax on a capital component--not a fuel. Once the solar is built we don't have to keep feeding it. For energy independence and national security we should want a lot of cheap solar panels from anywhere. #Solar

8/ One undercovered issue is the rest of the solar manufacturing supply chain that will be hurt. Lots of U.S. companies build racking and other electrical gear for solar. Far more jobs in that part of U.S. solar manufacturing than in solar cells. They lose with tariffs. #Solar

9/ In addition to the rest of the solar supply chain, the biggest job losses will be in solar installation--the people who build the solar installations in fields and on roofs. These jobs depend on affordable solar cells. A tariff will hurt these workers and employers. #Solar

10/ In sum, these tariffs are a bad idea for U.S. manufacturing and for U.S. solar jobs. Full stop.

P.S. the scale of the tariff and the 2.5GW carveout probably means that U.S. solar cell manufacturers get nothing. Numbers won't pencil for them.

P.P.S. I hear some saying it could be worse. That is like the kid who gets bullied at school saying at least I didn’t get pushed down the stairs this time. Long term we don’t want to be an industry that can pushed around by dumb policy ideas like solar tariffs. Ever. #Solar