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Even $370 Billion in US Incentives Won’t Solve All of Solar’s Struggles

While the Inflation Reduction Act calls for a huge injection in clean energy spending, the industry still faces supply snarls, trade tensions and delays in connecting to power grids.

The Yellowbud Solar Project in rural Ohio.

The Yellowbud Solar Project in rural Ohio.

Photographer: Doral Chenoweth/The Columbus Dispatch

Five months after President Joe Biden signed the most ambitious climate law in US history, the country is poised to install a record amount of solar power in 2023. But the industry’s big growth spurt may be another year or two away.

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) calls for about $370 billion in spending on clean energy to help arrest the worsening climate crisis, but a confluence of factors—supply snarls, trade tensions, delays in connection to power grids and uncertainty about forthcoming rules stemming from the new law—will likely constrain solar panel installations this year.