T1 wins a Section 232 solar waiver; wind import proclamation sets no tariff

Between October 20 and October 22, 2026, T1 Energy said Commerce had granted it a Section 232 waiver to import solar cells, a proclamation found wind turbine imports threaten national security but ordered talks rather than tariffs, the EU repealed its duties on Chinese solar glass, and LevelTen Energy said Section 232 tariffs led a 4.9% rise in its solar power purchase agreement (PPA) price index.

T1 Energy gets a Section 232 waiver for its Texas module plant

Texas TOPCon module maker T1 Energy said on October 22 that it has received a Department of Commerce waiver tied to the August Section 232 polysilicon proclamation; it had requested an expedited waiver to import up to 1.725 GW of solar cells for its G1_Dallas module plant. T1 says it needs the cells while it builds the 2.1 GW first phase of its G2_Austin cell fab in Rockdale, Texas, where it expects to produce its first cells in the first quarter of 2027.

Proclamation 11052, signed August 6, 2026, sets minimum import prices of $0.22 per watt for solar cells and $0.38 per watt for modules, and a 15 percent duty on polysilicon ingots and derivatives, from December 4, 2026 (our earlier coverage). The Bureau of Industry and Security's temporary final rule, in effect from September 22 through December 3, 2026, lets Commerce bar importers bringing in volumes substantially greater than their historic averages and caps weekly volumes for importers registered with Customs on or after August 6.

T1's release ties the waiver only to the August proclamation and does not say which provision it was granted under. Two routes fit. The rule's waiver is open to importers that are barred or capped before December 4, 2026. The proclamation's onshoring program lets a company with an approved plan for US capacity import production equipment and covered products, cells included, without the Section 232 duties, in volumes Commerce deems commensurate with the investment and tied to the facility's construction period. Commerce says it "will protect the confidentiality of all information submitted by companies pursuing a waiver," and the rule asks applicants to include "a non-confidential public version" of any business-confidential submission, but it does not say whether Commerce will publish applications or decisions. As of October 25, 2026, neither the Federal Register nor BIS's Section 232 page lists any waiver grants, so the public account of who holds one is what the companies announce.

The White House calls wind imports a security threat, and sets no tariff

President Trump proclaimed on October 22 that he concurs with Commerce's finding that wind turbines and their components and subcomponents "are being imported into the United States under such circumstances as to threaten to impair the national security of the United States." The remedy is negotiation: Commerce and the US Trade Representative are to pursue agreements with trading partners and update the President within 180 days, by April 20, 2027 on our count. "Depending on the status or outcome of such negotiations, I may consider alternative remedies in the future," the proclamation adds.

The findings read less like a trade case than a grid-reliability opinion. Paragraph 3 opens: "The Secretary found that wind energy is intermittent and burdensome on the United States electrical grid." Other findings cite networked inverters, particularly imported ones, as an exploitable vulnerability and turbines' interference with radar. The existing Section 232 tariffs on steel, aluminum and copper, which the proclamation says already reach certain wind components, stay in place. The proclamation arrives as Interior asks courts to send its approvals of offshore wind projects back for new decisions, including New England Wind and US Wind off Maryland.

The EU drops solar glass duties for want of anyone to protect

The European Commission repealed its anti-dumping and countervailing duties on solar glass from China in Regulation (EU) 2026/2314 and Regulation (EU) 2026/2310, dated October 19, 2026, published October 21 and in force from October 22. The duties dated from 2014; anti-dumping rates in force ran from 17.5% to 75.4%, and 67.1% for all other companies.

The EU no longer makes the product. The expiry review was requested on April 18, 2025 by Interfloat Group (Interfloat Corporation and GMB Glasmanufaktur Brandenburg), weeks after the end of the quarter in which, the Commission found, both remaining EU producers, GMB and AGC Glass Europe, ceased production. "Maintaining the measures would therefore increase the costs on downstream users sourcing their solar glass from China without providing any benefit to an upstream industry that has effectively ceased to operate," the Commission wrote. Duties collected since the reviews opened on July 22, 2025 are to be repaid on request, where national customs authorities grant it.

LevelTen: tariffs led a 4.9% rise in solar PPA offers

P25 solar prices on LevelTen's Continental Index rose 4.9% in the third quarter, and "Q3's primary pricing factor was clear: the Section 232 tariffs announced in early August," the marketplace operator said on October 20. It cites analysis showing the tariff and minimum import prices pushing imported module prices up by more than 40%. The index draws on LevelTen's own marketplace: 206 developer offers from 166 projects in six US and Canadian markets in the 90 days before September 15, 2026, per its report page.

Sarah Wolf, LevelTen's director of North America transactions, told Utility Dive the Section 232 tariffs could add $3/MWh to $7/MWh by the time they take effect: "We're already seeing more than half of solar modules repriced, and we know that price is being passed down to sellers and ultimately buyers." Utility Dive reported the average solar PPA price as rising 4.9% to $64.23/MWh, though LevelTen attaches the 4.9% to its Continental Index and the $64.23/MWh to its Core-Markets P25 solar price, a metric new this quarter.

Wind on the Continental Index was essentially flat, down 0.1%. LevelTen says Section 232 duties on steel, aluminum and some copper products are raising wind costs, but that far more impactfully, a large swath of US wind projects remain in limbo while the Federal Aviation Administration and Defense Department remain unwilling to issue Determination of No Hazard permits and mitigation agreements.