Indiana utility delays coal phaseout over federal solar investigation

Northern Indiana’s electric utility will delay the phaseout of a major coal plant due to the uncertainty created by a federal investigation into solar panel part manufacturers, the utility’s parent company said this week. 

In an earnings report for the first quarter of 2022, NiSource, the parent company of the Northern Indiana Public Service Company, said the ongoing Commerce Department investigation has created “uncertainty and delays” in the solar panel industry. 

“NiSource is working with its renewable generation developers to better understand the potential project impacts,” NiSource said. “The company anticipates that most solar projects originally scheduled for completion in 2022 and 2023 will experience delays of approximately 6 to 18 months.” 

As a consequence of this uncertainty, two coal units at Michigan City’s Schahfer Generating Station will remain online through 2025, two years longer than originally planned. 

The Commerce Department in March announced the probe into solar panel manufacturers based in Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, following a petition alleging the manufacturers are fronts for Chinese companies to dodge tariffs. The industry has reacted with alarm, with the Solar Energy Industry Association cutting its projections for solar installation in half in response. 

The industry’s congressional allies have also sought a speedy end to the investigation, warning of potential job losses as a result as well as risks to the Biden administration’s own carbon emission reduction goals. Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) this week led a bipartisan letter calling for the investigation to wrap up before the Aug. 30 deadline. 

“Initiation of this investigation is already causing massive disruption in the solar industry, and it will severely harm American solar businesses and workers and increase costs for American families as long as it continues,” the senators wrote Monday. 

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo has told senators the department “has not made a determination, one way or the other, on the merits of whether circumvention is occurring, and no additional duties have been imposed as a result of the initiation,” a Commerce spokesperson confirmed to The Hill last week.