OPINION:
Michael Kinsley, the great liberal writer and commentator, once noted that some people are always looking for heretics while others are always looking for converts. That trenchant observation may be applicable to a situation in Texas.
There, an American company based in Austin is trying to bring solar manufacturing back to the United States after what has been a generation-long effort on the part of the Chinese Communist Party to destroy that manufacturing capacity in the United States. The company, T1 Energy, owns and operates one of the world’s most advanced solar module facilities in Wilmer, Texas, where it will produce about 3 gigawatts of solar modules this year.
That’s pretty good for an outfit that changed its name last year when the company, then called Freyr Battery, bought a Wilmer factory and various other things from Trina Solar, unfortunately part of the sprawling network of companies owned or controlled by members of the communist regime in Beijing. Soon after the sale, the company changed its name to T1 and made clear it intended to grow and become an integrated solar and battery storage leader owned and operated by Americans.
The company supports tariffs directed at Chinese predatory behavior, including the Section 232 investigation of China’s activities related to solar manufacturing by the Department of Commerce. More important, T1 announced a deal in August with Corning to be a foundational customer for that company’s new ingot/wafer manufacturing facility. That means T1 has almost the entire supply chain associated with solar manufacturing and will soon support about 6,000 American jobs.
Here’s the tricky part: Trina Solar still owns about 20% of the company, according to reports, allowing it a minimum of two board members. That’s important in large measure because federal tax credits require companies to avoid relying on “foreign entities of concern” (a diplomatic way of saying the Chinese Communist Party) for their supply chains. That makes sense; there is no point in strengthening an already powerful and probably hostile adversary.
With all that said, it seems this is one of those cases in which the new crew is trying to fix a problem it inherited. It bought the company and its assets from Chinese owners. Are there still unappetizing people on the board? There sure are, but they own only 20% of the company, which means the good guys own 80%, and you have to think the Texans will solve that problem eventually.
President Reagan used to routinely and correctly note: “The person who agrees with you 80% of the time is a friend and an ally, not a 20% traitor.” That seems like useful context in this case. Whatever future there is for solar manufacturing in this country, it’s going to look like T1 Energy: technologically skilled, practical in business deals, and careful about the generosity and limits of government policies.
The simple truth is that T1’s solar manufacturing is American manufacturing. As CEO Dan Barcelo recently said when he met with Vice President J.D. Vance, “We are investing in energy from America, for America and by Americans … to build a domestic solar supply chain that is scalable, reliable and low cost.”
Electricity and computing power are now the building blocks of national strength. Mr. Barcelo’s company is helping ensure that we have the American energy we need to meet Team Trump’s energy goals and maintain American supremacy in the existential race to master artificial intelligence and command the economic and technological heights for the remainder of this century.
• Michael McKenna is a contributing editor at The Washington Times.
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