Watt’s Happening aims to provide breaking news, sharp analysis, and thoughtful commentary from the cutting edge of the energy sector as this dynamic area of the world continues to expand and grow before our eyes.
Weekly Highlights:
Killing the Golden Goose? A Plan to End Clean Energy Tax Credits
House Republicans are aiming to eliminate two federal tax credits that aim to incentivize the adoption of energy-saving measures, including geothermal heat pumps and solar panels, as part of their cost-saving measures. Critics in the Democratic Party point to the fact that these credits, first passed in 2005 and expanded by the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022, have saved Americans millions of dollars in utility bills and support nearly half a million jobs. To read the latest TNI analysis, go here.
“Unleash the Power of the Sun”: Tariffs on Solar Panels Are a Divisive Issue
While many of President Trump’s tariffs have caused political controversy and roiled the stock market, a proposed tariff on one specific product has won some adherents. Specifically, the International Trade Commission recently ruled that U.S. producers of solar panels have been “materially injured” by imports from Southeast Asia. As the ruling has opened the way for the Commerce Department to impose tariffs as high as 3,500 percent, some in the industry have cheered the ruling as a victory against cheap Chinese subsidies. Others disagree, stating that the tariffs risk undermining the industry that they’re supposed to help by making imported parts more expensive.
More Black Gold: OPEC+ Discusses Yet Another Production Increase
OPEC+ is likely contemplating yet another production increase in July, which has caused fears in the oil market that the supply will continue to exceed demand. If OPEC+ members agree to the increase at their June 1 meeting, the increase will come on the back of two consecutive production increases as Saudi Arabia aims to increase its market share, punish overproducers in the OPEC+ cartel, and get back at shale producers in the United States.
A Chinese Mineral Near-Monopoly Threatens to Derail the Green Revolution
The Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA) just issued a report arguing that many of the minerals that are critical for fueling the shift to clean energy have become increasingly dominated by only a few countries, including China. The report underscored the fact that China has become the world’s leading refiner for nineteen of twenty strategic minerals, and the top three producers of these minerals as a whole have increased their market share to eighty-six percent since 2020. Such an arrangement in an age of trade restrictions and export restrictions threatens to generate supply shocks that have the potential of upending global markets. To read the latest TNI analysis on nickel production in Indonesia, go here.
The TVA Leads the Way to Nuclear Energy
While the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is well known for its role in the New Deal of the 1930s, it is now taking the lead again in terms of nuclear power by being the first utility company in the United States to submit a permit to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission regarding the construction of a small modular nuclear reactor (SMR) along Clinch River in Oak Ridge. The move is part of Gov. Bill Lee’s plan to make the state a center for nuclear energy due to its safety, cost effectiveness, and reliability.
About the Author: Toni Mikec
Toni Mikec is the Managing Editor for Energy World, a publication of the Center for the National Interest. Before that, he worked as a political consultant for Your Voter Guide in Sacramento and as a Senior Editor at Eagle Financial Publications in Washington DC. He holds a B.A. in International Relations (summa cum laude) from the University of California, Davis and a M.A. in International Relations and International Economics from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.
Image: Shutterstock/arturnichiporenko
