Report: Solar’s supply chain disaster threatens 56% of global utility projects in 2022
"The utility solar industry is facing one of its toughest challenges just days ahead of COP26," Rystad Energy senior renewables analyst David Dixon said. "The current bottlenecks are not expected to be relieved within the next 12 months, meaning developers and offtakers will have to decide whether to reduce their margins, delay projects or increase offtake prices to get projects to financial close."
Rystad Energy analysis found that the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) for new projects has increased 10-15% when comparing last year's module and shipping costs with current project costs.
U.S. solar panel imports, meanwhile, declined 27% in the third quarter of 2021, the largest quarterly decline since 2018, amid supply chain pressures and the proposed expansion of tariffs.
Analysis by S&P Global Market Intelligence found that the drop in imports from Q2 to Q3 2021 represented the largest quarterly drop since the beginning of 2018, when project developers preempted tariffs on the industry from then-President Donald Trump.
On Monday, the Solar Energy Industries Association sent a letter to U.S. Dept. of Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo to "refute the credibility" of the anonymous petition for circumvention tariffs on solar imports from Southeast Asia.