On 6 June, the White House in Washington released US President Biden’s emergency executive order on electricity generation capacity. The President of the United States Joseph R.Biden Jr. is using the executive order to declare an emergency with respect to the threat to the availability of sufficient electricity generation capacity to meet anticipated customer demand.
Although the document is publicly available on the White House website, not a single news agency is reporting it. We have translated the document.
Statements of the publication
Electricity is an essential part of modern life, powering homes, businesses and industry. It is critical to the functioning of important sectors of the economy, including hospitals, schools, public transport systems and the basis of the defence industry. Even single interruptions in power supply can have catastrophic health and economic consequences. A robust and reliable power system is therefore not only a basic human need, but also crucial for national security and defence.
Image: Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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Ukraine war and climate change disrupt energy markets
Several factors threaten the ability of the United States to provide sufficient electricity generation to meet anticipated customer demand. These factors include disruptions in energy markets, due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and extreme weather events, due to climate change. For example, drought conditions combined with heat waves in parts of the country are simultaneously causing projected shortages of electricity and record electricity demand. For this reason, both the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the North American Electric Reliability Corporation have warned of near-term power reliability concerns in their recent summer reliability assessments.
Unavailability of solar modules jeopardises sufficient power generation capacity
To ensure the adequacy of electrical resources, utilities and grid operators must plan ahead to build new capacity now to meet anticipated customer demand. Solar energy is among the fastest growing sources of new electricity generation in the United States. Utilities and grid operators are increasingly relying on new solar installations to ensure that there are sufficient resources on the grid to maintain reliable operations. Solar capacity and battery additions were expected to account for more than half of the electric sector’s new capacity in 2022 and 2023. The unavailability of solar cells and modules jeopardises these planned additions, which in turn jeopardises the availability of sufficient electricity generation capacity to supply the expected customers. Solar-generated electricity is also critical to reducing our dependence on electricity that comes from burning fossil fuels, which drives climate change. The Department of Defence has identified climate change as a threat to our national security.
Sanctions prevent import of solar modules from Southeast Asia
In recent years, the vast majority of solar modules installed in the United States have been imported, with those from Southeast Asia accounting for about three-quarters of imported modules in 2020. Recently, however, the United States has been unable to import solar modules in sufficient quantities to ensure the expansion of solar capacity needed to meet our climate and clean energy goals, ensure the adequacy of electricity grid resources, and help combat rising energy prices. This acute shortage of solar modules and module components has abruptly jeopardised the near-term expansion of solar capacity that would otherwise have the potential to ensure sufficient electricity generation to meet customer demand. About half of the expected domestic deployment of solar modules for the coming year is currently at risk due to insufficient supply. Across the country, solar projects are being postponed or cancelled.
The federal government is working with the private sector to support the expansion of domestic solar manufacturing capacity, including our capacity to produce modules and other inputs into the solar supply chain, but building this capacity will take time. Immediate action is needed to ensure that the United States has access to a sufficient supply of solar modules to meet our electricity generation needs in the meantime.
Biden declares emergency
THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States, by the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States of America, including by Section 318(a) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended, 19 U.S.C. 1318(a) do hereby declare an emergency with respect to the threat to the availability of sufficient electric generating capacity to meet anticipated customer demand.
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