U.S. Energy Company Halts 1.5 GW of Solar Projects Due to Trump Tariffs

Cypress Creek Renewables, one of the United States’ largest developers of utility-scale solar, has stopped investments in 1.5 gigawatts of renewable energy projects, worth $1.5 billion, due to Trump administration tariffs on imported solar technology, which the company said made the costs of the projects too high, according to Bloomberg and Greentech Media.

The solar farms were slated for sites across the country, from California to the Carolinas. In total, they represent 20 percent of Cypress Creek Renewables’ projects in development.

“Because utility-scale solar is extremely price-sensitive, the tariff forced us to re-evaluate some of our projects,” Jeff McKay, communications director at Cypress Creek, told Greentech Media. “We can confidently say that we will not be able to move forward with $1.5 billion… of projects as things stand now.”

Cypress Creek has joined seven other renewable energy companies in asking the Trump administration for a tariff exemption on 72-cell, 1,500-volt crystalline silicon photovoltaic panels, which generate more watts-per-panel than standard 60-cell modules and are therefore often used in utility-scale projects. Last week, eight Republican senators joined the companies, arguing the exemption will “preserve tens of thousands of existing solar manufacturing and development jobs, foster market expansion, and allow the U.S. to once again fairly compete in the global marketplace for energy production technologies,” they wrote in a letter.