Renewables: Trump's tariffs on solar panels have lost nearly 20 jobs in two years

In the past two years, nearly 20 solar jobs have been lost in the United States. And the fault is also the new duties imposed by Trump on panels produced and imported from abroad

He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him

In the past two years, nearly 20 solar jobs have been lost in the United States. And the fault is also the new duties imposed by Trump on panels produced and imported from abroad.

If 2016 was the best year recorded overseas for solar energy, the next two came to a halt. Back then, solar alone boasted a much larger share of employees in the electricity sector (43%) than the entire fossil fuel industry (22%).

With such huge numbers, it seemed that solar energy and renewables in general were ready to revolutionize the American energy sector, flying towards a low-carbon future.

But according to the latest Solar Foundation report, the past two years have been busy and the solar industry has lost 18 jobs. The Solar Foundation National Solar Employment Census 2018 is the ninth annual report on the size and reach of the American solar workforce and is the most comprehensive industry analysis in the United States.

According to the 2018 National Solar Jobs Census, America currently has over 242.000 workers in the industry. They provide clean, affordable, renewable energy in all 50 states.

Since 2018, the National Solar Jobs Census found that the United States has precisely 242.343 solar workers but compared to 2017, 8.000 jobs were lost, or 3,2%. In 2016, there were over 10 thousand.

Overall, the solar workforce has grown 159% since the first census in 2010, adding nearly 150.000 jobs. A beautiful surge that has suffered a sharp brake in the last two years, as also shown in the graph below

Renewables: Trump's tariffs on solar panels have lost nearly 20 jobs in two years

Gallery

The states with the highest employment gains were Florida, Illinois, Texas and the State of New York. Employment in general increased in 29 states in 2018, but unfortunately this was not enough to contain the losses.

Although some of the job losses were predicted, the main cause was the introduction of so-called early last year safeguard tariffs, in force until 2021.

After abandoned the Paris accords, Trump has also put the renewables sector in difficulty by imposing a tax on panels produced abroad. He sets that it has had a negative effect on the domestic solar sector, which is mainly based on imports.

The duties were 30% in the first year, 25% in the second year, 20% in the third year and 15% in the fourth year. Additionally, the first 2,5 gigawatts of imported solar cells will be duty-free in each of these four years.

Before the tariffs were implemented, many industry leaders had already warned of potential damage to the solar market.

Fortunately for the 2019, the prospects are better. According to the 2018 National Solar Jobs Census, thanks to backward large-scale projects and new incentives in some key states, the outlook for solar workers is expected to improve. For this year, a 7% increase in employment is expected, bringing the total to 259.400 jobs.

Despite Trump's attack, solar resists.

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