New tariff could harm New Mexico’s booming solar industry

President Donald Trump announced earlier this month his administration would enact a 30 percent tariff on all imported solar panels.

“We’ll be making solar products now much more so in the United States,” Trump said. “Our companies have been decimated, and those companies are going to be coming back strong.”

In response, solar executives from across the state of New Mexico have fired back.

“When you look at the kind of growth numbers in the industry, this kind of kicks us in the teeth,” the executive director of the Renewable Energy Industry Association of New Mexico told the Santa Fe New Mexican.

“We expect across the board, there to be a slight rise in pricing because of this tariff,” said Corey Asbill, who works at SunPower by Positive Energy Solar in Las Cruces.

Asbill, who has twenty years of experience in the solar industry, said this will just be another hurdle to overcome.

“There’s expected to be a reduction in the workforce because of this,” Asbill said, adding only two companies in the United States produce solar panels and that most companies are very reliant on foreign imports.

“The vast majority of solar panels installed in the United States are imported,” Asbill said.

“My administration is committed to defending American companies,” Trump said on Tuesday. “They’ve been very badly hurt from harmful import surges that threaten the livelihood of their workers, of jobs, actually, all over this country — many different industries.”

Asbill described the change of solar industry policies as a bit of a wild ride, or a “solar coaster.”

“It’s up and down and all around, and it’s quite an enjoyable ride, it could be terrifying at times,” Asbill said. “It can be exhilarating at times.”

New Mexico has had nearly a 24 percent reduction in solar photovoltaic energy usage over the past year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

“The solar industry has been through a lot of these policy changes, including the loss of the New Mexico state tax credit,” Asbill said. “I would say we’re very hopeful and expect the solar industry to continue moving forward through all of these challenges.”