{"id":6180,"date":"2018-01-24T16:32:52","date_gmt":"2018-01-24T16:32:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.portal.solar.com\/learn\/solar-tariffs-are-here\/"},"modified":"2019-06-27T09:09:37","modified_gmt":"2019-06-27T09:09:37","slug":"solar-tariffs-are-here","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/solar-tariffs-are-here\/","title":{"rendered":"Solar Tariffs Are Here: The Sky Is NOT Falling, but the Sunshine Still Does"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

The wait is over. Almost one year after the original trade case petition was filed, following months of hearings, negotiations, and a final recommendation from the U.S. International Trade Commission, President Trump announced that the U.S. would impose a tariff of 30% on crystalline solar cells and modules produced outside of America<\/strong>, ramping down over the next four years.<\/p>\n

Of course, 30% sounds like a lot, and for large utility-scale systems where the solar module represents a large portion of the total installed cost there is a significant impact. However for homeowners, the actual financial impact considering the purchase of a solar energy system is quite small. Let’s dig into the numbers to see why.\n<\/p>\n

How will the new solar tariff affect home solar?<\/h2>\n

A solar module costs an installer roughly 70 cents per watt to purchase, accounting for the fact that the residential market has a strong preference for high quality brands such as LG, Panasonic, and SunPower<\/a>. So a 30% tariff would add 21 cents to that cost, for a total of 91 cents per watt for the modules. <\/span><\/p>\n

That 70 cent per watt module is part of an entire system with other equipment, labor, permitting, sales and marketing costs. All in, a typical home solar system on the Solar.com<\/a> platform sells for $3.30 per watt installed, before any unique case cost adders. So the post-tariff cost is now $3.51 per watt, or 6% higher.<\/span><\/p>\n

For homeowners considering a solar system purchase, the gut reaction can often be: “Oh the cost of solar just went up, I missed my opportunity, now must NOT be a good time to add solar”. <\/span><\/p>\n

Spoiler alert: That decision could cost you $10,000+<\/span><\/p>\n

Is it better to wait until the solar tariff ends?<\/span><\/h2>\n

Let’s look at a Southern California homeowner with an average $200\/month electricity bill. A 7.25-kilowatt system will offset their bill, which at $3.51 per watt has a gross cost of $25,447 (tariff included) and a net cost of $17,812 with the 30% Federal Investment Tax Credit ($7,634) and before any additional local incentives are considered. In the next five years, that homeowner will spend $13,200 on electricity, that is 74% of the net cost of the system today.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"YouExplore solar for your home with our solar savings calculator<\/a>!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Don’t forget that buying a solar system with cash or a loan adds to the value of the home. A 2015 Department of Energy Lawrence Berkley Laboratory study<\/a> showed the added value<\/a> was at least as much as what was spent purchasing the system. What’s more, solar homes sold faster than non-solar homes. <\/span><\/p>\n

Or they could not go solar, and continue “renting their electricity from the utility”. Instead of paying off an asset on their home, they have delayed an investment for a solar system with a 25-year savings of $89,000!<\/span><\/p>\n

In this way, solar reminds us of the age-old proverb about the best time to plant a tree. In this case: the best time to install a solar system was 20 years ago. The second best time is today.<\/span><\/body><\/html><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The wait is over. Almost one year after the original trade case petition was filed, following months of hearings, negotiations, and a final recommendation from the U.S. International Trade Commission,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":6350,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[81],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nSolar Tariffs Are Here: The Sky Is NOT Falling, but the Sunshine Still Does | Solar.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"President Trump has imposed a 30% tariff on imported solar - but don't worry. For homeowners, the actual financial impact of this is quite small.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/solar-tariffs-are-here\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Solar Tariffs Are Here: The Sky Is NOT Falling, but the Sunshine Still Does\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"President Trump has imposed a 30% tariff on imported solar - but don't worry. For homeowners, the actual financial impact of this is quite small.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/solar-tariffs-are-here\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Solar.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Solar.comOfficial\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-01-24T16:32:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-06-27T09:09:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/solarassets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/pkms-blog-tariffs-money.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"870\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"450\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kyle Cherrick\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/KyleCherrick\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kyle Cherrick\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/solar-tariffs-are-here\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/solar-tariffs-are-here\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kyle Cherrick\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/#\/schema\/person\/42a72e81c81408f44d00660e7bd014c4\"},\"headline\":\"Solar Tariffs Are Here: The Sky Is NOT Falling, but the Sunshine Still Does\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-01-24T16:32:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-06-27T09:09:37+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/solar-tariffs-are-here\/\"},\"wordCount\":510,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"How Much Do Solar Panels Save?\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/solar-tariffs-are-here\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/solar-tariffs-are-here\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/solar-tariffs-are-here\/\",\"name\":\"Solar Tariffs Are Here: The Sky Is NOT Falling, but the Sunshine Still Does | Solar.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-01-24T16:32:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-06-27T09:09:37+00:00\",\"description\":\"President Trump has imposed a 30% tariff on imported solar - but don't worry. For homeowners, the actual financial impact of this is quite small.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/solar-tariffs-are-here\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/solar-tariffs-are-here\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/solar-tariffs-are-here\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Solar Learning Center\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Solar Panel Cost\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/solar-panel-cost\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"How Much Do Solar Panels Save?\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/how-much-do-solar-panels-save\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Solar Tariffs Are Here: The Sky Is NOT Falling, but the Sunshine Still Does\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/\",\"name\":\"Solar.com\",\"description\":\"Solar Learning Center\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/#organization\",\"name\":\"solar.com\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/assets.solar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Solar.com-Logo.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/assets.solar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Solar.com-Logo.jpg\",\"width\":400,\"height\":400,\"caption\":\"solar.com\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Solar.comOfficial\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/#\/schema\/person\/42a72e81c81408f44d00660e7bd014c4\",\"name\":\"Kyle Cherrick\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/19cd77b1e4a5822888178d3b6563ce3c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/19cd77b1e4a5822888178d3b6563ce3c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Kyle Cherrick\"},\"description\":\"Kyle Cherrick is a 10-year solar industry veteran with experience in both start-ups and industry leaders including First Solar, SunEdison, and Chint Power Systems. He leads business development for Solar.com including industry partnerships, growth strategies, and strategic marketing.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/kylecherrick\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/KyleCherrick\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/author\/kyle-cherrick\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Solar Tariffs Are Here: The Sky Is NOT Falling, but the Sunshine Still Does | Solar.com","description":"President Trump has imposed a 30% tariff on imported solar - but don't worry. For homeowners, the actual financial impact of this is quite small.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/solar-tariffs-are-here\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Solar Tariffs Are Here: The Sky Is NOT Falling, but the Sunshine Still Does","og_description":"President Trump has imposed a 30% tariff on imported solar - but don't worry. For homeowners, the actual financial impact of this is quite small.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/solar-tariffs-are-here\/","og_site_name":"Solar.com","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Solar.comOfficial\/","article_published_time":"2018-01-24T16:32:52+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-06-27T09:09:37+00:00","og_image":[{"width":870,"height":450,"url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/solarassets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/pkms-blog-tariffs-money.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Kyle Cherrick","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/KyleCherrick","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kyle Cherrick","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/solar-tariffs-are-here\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/solar-tariffs-are-here\/"},"author":{"name":"Kyle Cherrick","@id":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/#\/schema\/person\/42a72e81c81408f44d00660e7bd014c4"},"headline":"Solar Tariffs Are Here: The Sky Is NOT Falling, but the Sunshine Still Does","datePublished":"2018-01-24T16:32:52+00:00","dateModified":"2019-06-27T09:09:37+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/solar-tariffs-are-here\/"},"wordCount":510,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/#organization"},"articleSection":["How Much Do Solar Panels Save?"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/solar-tariffs-are-here\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/solar-tariffs-are-here\/","url":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/solar-tariffs-are-here\/","name":"Solar Tariffs Are Here: The Sky Is NOT Falling, but the Sunshine Still Does | Solar.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/#website"},"datePublished":"2018-01-24T16:32:52+00:00","dateModified":"2019-06-27T09:09:37+00:00","description":"President Trump has imposed a 30% tariff on imported solar - but don't worry. For homeowners, the actual financial impact of this is quite small.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/solar-tariffs-are-here\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/solar-tariffs-are-here\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/solar-tariffs-are-here\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Solar Learning Center","item":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Solar Panel Cost","item":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/solar-panel-cost\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"How Much Do Solar Panels Save?","item":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/how-much-do-solar-panels-save\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Solar Tariffs Are Here: The Sky Is NOT Falling, but the Sunshine Still Does"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/","name":"Solar.com","description":"Solar Learning Center","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/#organization","name":"solar.com","url":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/assets.solar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Solar.com-Logo.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/assets.solar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Solar.com-Logo.jpg","width":400,"height":400,"caption":"solar.com"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Solar.comOfficial\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/#\/schema\/person\/42a72e81c81408f44d00660e7bd014c4","name":"Kyle Cherrick","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/19cd77b1e4a5822888178d3b6563ce3c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/19cd77b1e4a5822888178d3b6563ce3c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Kyle Cherrick"},"description":"Kyle Cherrick is a 10-year solar industry veteran with experience in both start-ups and industry leaders including First Solar, SunEdison, and Chint Power Systems. He leads business development for Solar.com including industry partnerships, growth strategies, and strategic marketing.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/kylecherrick","https:\/\/twitter.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/KyleCherrick"],"url":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/author\/kyle-cherrick\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6180"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6180"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6180\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7408,"href":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6180\/revisions\/7408"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}