by Jack McEvoy
JA Solar, a Chinese green energy giant whose chairman is tied to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), has leased a plot of land in Phoenix, Arizona, to construct a $60 million solar panel factory that is poised to benefit from huge green energy tax incentives included in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
Jin Baofang, chairman and CEO of the Bejing-based company, said that he had been a CCP member for 40 years during a 2020 interview with the Chinese state-run newspaper “The Paper.” The JA Solar factory, which could take advantage of the green energy tax credits included in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), will create 600 jobs and use automated assembly lines to manufacture 2 gigawatts’ worth of solar panels annually once it becomes fully operational, according to a Tuesday Arizona Commerce Authority press release.
Baofang also works for the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products and also served as a delegate to the 10th, 11th and 12th National People’s Congress of China, the country’s legislative body, according to JA Solar’s website. On its website, the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products purports to be a nonprofit trade organization; however, Chinese chambers of commerce and similar trade groups are often state-controlled and have long been a part of efforts to expand CCP influence around the world, according to 2019 report published by the Jamestown Foundation, a conservative defense policy think tank.
The IRA, which President Joe Biden signed into law in August, offers up $369 billion in tax credits for domestic solar, wind and other renewable energy projects that begin construction before Dec. 31, 2025, according to Marcum LLP, an accounting and advisory firm. The bill establishes the “Advanced Manufacturing Production Tax Credit” which will reward PV module (solar panel) manufacturers 7 cents per watt of energy produced in the U.S., according to the Energy Department (DOE).
The legislation package also includes an investment tax credit of up to 30% of qualifying investment costs if solar producers are able satisfy labor requirements issued by the Treasury Department pertaining to the construction of the manufacturing facility.
Foreign multinational companies with existing or planned subsidiaries in the U.S. will be eligible to receive IRA tax credits, according to Vistra, a corporate service provider. In addition to the manufacturing credits, the legislation will allow homeowners to subtract 30% of the cost of installing solar panels and other sun-powered home products from their federal taxes, incentivizing Americans to buy solar products, according to the DOE.
“Arizona is proud to welcome JA Solar’s first U.S. manufacturing facility to Phoenix,” Democratic Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs said in a statement. “There’s no better place in the world for sustainable industries like solar and we are excited to see this facility add to Arizona’s clean energy reputation.”
JA Solar, the Arizona Commerce Authority, Hobbs’ office and the White House did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
Philip Lenczycki contributed to this report.
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Jack McEvoy is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation.
Photo “Solar Panel Installation” by Gustavo Fring.
