The Biden administration’s rules released Friday to determine which companies and manufacturers can benefit from new tax breaks for the solar industry are being criticized by U.S. solar makers, who say the rules don’t go far enough to try to bring production back from China. .

The rules stem from President Biden’s sweeping clean energy bill, which proposes a combination of tax breaks and other incentives to try to spur the building of more solar plants in the United States and reduce the country’s dependence on China for clean energy goods needed to mitigate the impact. climate change. change.

The Treasury Department, in its guidance released Friday, said it would offer a 10 percent additional tax credit to businesses that assemble solar panels in the United States, even if they import the silicon wafers used to make those panels from foreign countries. Under the Biden administration’s new climate legislation, solar and wind farms can apply for a 30 percent tax credit on the value of their facilities.

Senior administration officials told reporters Thursday they are trying to take a balanced approach that leans towards forcing supply chains back into the United States. But China’s dominance of the global solar industry has led to the cunning calculus of the Biden administration, which wants to boost U.S. solar manufacturing while also ensuring a plentiful supply of low-cost solar panels to reduce carbon emissions.

Officials said the Biden administration would have the opportunity to change the rules as US supply chains get stronger.

“The Domestic Content Bonus under the Inflation Reduction Act will stimulate American manufacturing, including in the iron and steel industry, so American workers and companies continue to benefit from President Biden’s Invest in America program,” Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen. “These tax breaks are key to attracting investment and ensuring that all Americans participate in the growth of the clean energy economy.”

Critics said the new rules are not enough to give companies incentives to pull the solar energy supply chain out of China.

Mike Carr, executive director of the Solar Power Coalition for America, which includes U.S.-based solar companies such as Hemlock Semiconductor, Wacker Chemie, Qcells and First Solar, called the move “a missed opportunity to build a domestic solar supply chain.” ”

“Just the fact that today’s announcement is likely to reduce planned investment in critical solar wafer, ingot and polysilicon manufacturing areas,” he said in a statement. “China produces 97 percent of the world’s solar wafers, which gives them substantial control over the production of both polysilicon and cells. We fear this guidance will solidify their dominance over these critical links in the solar energy supply chain.”

The Biden administration has set itself the ambitious goal of generating 100 percent of the country’s electricity from carbon-free energy sources by 2035. more than double the annual rate solar installations.

The United States remains heavily dependent on Chinese manufacturers of low-cost solar modules. although many Chinese factories now produce these goods in Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand.

China also supplies many of the key components of solar panels, including more than 80% of the world’s polysilicon, which most solar panels use to absorb energy from sunlight. And much of China’s polysilicon comes from the Xinjiang region, where the US government has banned imports over concerns about forced labor.

Other companies in the solar supply chain that rely on imported components were more positive about the Finance Ministry’s guidance.

Abigail Ross Hopper, executive director of the Solar Energy Manufacturers Association, said the guidance is an important step forward that “will spark a flood of investment in US-made clean energy equipment and components.”

“The solar industry and energy storage in the US strongly supports building a domestic clean energy supply chain, and today’s leadership will complement the resurgence in manufacturing that began when the historic Inflation Reduction Act was passed last summer,” she said.

Republicans in Congress have already railed against the Biden administration’s climate legislation, saying it does not set hard rules on manufacturing in China and that it can funnel federal dollars to Chinese-owned companies that have set up in the United States.

The Biden administration is also allocating funds to develop the production of semiconductors and batteries for electric vehicles. The guidelines for this money include restrictions on access to so-called foreign entities of concern, such as Chinese-owned companies. But the Inflation Reduction Act contains no barriers to federal dollars going into Chinese solar companies’ operations in the US.

At a congressional hearing on April 25, Representative Jason Smith, chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means, pointed to the facilities of JinkoSolar, owned by a Chinese manufacturer, in Florida that are eligible for federal tax credits.

“Works at the plant include robots placing strings of solar cells, mostly sourced from China, on the base of a solar panel,” according to a fact sheet published by Mr. Smith.

Mr. Biden also clashed with domestic solar producers over a separate trade case that would impose tariffs on solar products imported by Chinese companies based in Southeast Asia.

Mr. Biden’s decision to lift tariffs for two years angered Republicans and some Democrats in Congress, who said American manufacturers deserved more protection. In recent weeks, the House and Senate have approved a measure to overturn the president’s decision, which Biden is expected to veto.