Executives from NextEra Energy Resources said a two-year pause on new tariffs on solar modules imported from Southeast Asia provides the clarity to restart projects that were halted because of uncertainty created by a trade case.
Kirk Crews, NextEra's executive vice president and chief financial officer, said the company's solar suppliers will be completely making ingots and wafers outside of China by the end of the reprieve.
"The actions by the Biden Administration have provided much-needed clarity to our suppliers to resume solar module production, recommence shipping of solar panels, and for Energy Resources to restart its solar construction projects that had been halted due to the circumvention investigation," Crews said during an earnings call on July 22.
"These new developments (since the end of Q1 2022) reinforce our confidence in both our near-term and long-term development expectations."
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Commerce is investigating whether solar modules imported from Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia are circumventing trade duties against China. These four countries now account for more than 80% of the solar modules imported into the U.S.
The investigation could have brought retroactive duties on modules imported after April 1, 2022, which brought the entire industry to a standstill.
In response to dire concerns from the solar industry, President Biden paused for two years any new tariffs on solar modules imported from the four countries that are subject to the Commerce investigation. He also invoked the Defense Production Act to support domestic solar manufacturing.
The Commerce investigation of the Auxin Solar petition continues. Any duties levied against Southeast Asian module imports would be imposed after the 24-month period expires.
NextEra's Crews thinks the energy giant will be in the clear.
"By the end of that period, we expect our suppliers to be making ingots and wafers outside of China. As a reminder, the Department of Commerce staff already publicly stated that panels with wafers made outside of China are not subject to its investigation," he said.
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In the second quarter, NextEra added 1,200 net MW of solar projects, making this the second largest quarter of solar origination in NextEra Energy Resources' history. Also included in the backlog additions are approximately 815 net MW of new wind and 20 net MW of battery storage.
With these new additions, net of projects placed in service, NextEra Energy Resources' renewables and storage backlog now stands at approximately 19,600 MW and provides terrific visibility into the strong growth that is expected at NextEra Energy Resources over the next few years.
"We continue to see strong market demand for renewables, especially in light of the environment of high gas and power prices that we believe will persist going forward," Crews added. "Renewables are not just the most economic form of generation—they are deflationary and countercyclical."
