President Biden Issues Memorandum on Solar Photovoltaic Modules and Module Components

Yesterday, President Joe Biden issued a memorandum to the Secretary of Energy issuing a Presidential Determination Pursuant to Section 303 of the Defense Production Act of 1950, as amended, on Solar Photovoltaic Modules and Module Components.

Citing the need for a “robust, resilient, and sustainable domestic industrial base” for a clean energy economy, President Biden declared solar photovoltaic modules and module components as “essential to the national defense” and opines that, without Presidential action under section 303 of the Act, the country wouldn’t be able to keep the supply of “industrial resource, material, or critical technology” at the necessary, sustainable level.

As such, the president found that “action to expand the domestic production capability for solar photovoltaic modules and module components is necessary to avert an industrial resource or critical technology item shortfall that would severely impair national defense capability,” and waived the “requirements of section 303(a)(1)–(a)(6) of the Act.”