Southern sees solar project delays caused by US tariff probe

Southern Co.’s Georgia Power has seen about 1 gigawatt of solar projects built by third parties delayed a year in part because of the U.S. trade investigation into Chinese panel suppliers, company executives said in an interview.

“They’ve been pushed back a year, from 2023 to 2024,” Southern Chief Financial Officer Daniel Tucker said Thursday in the interview. Georgia Power has 30-year contracts to buy the power produced by the solar projects. Tucker added that the delays were caused by “a combination of general supply chain constraints and the implications of this investigation.”

Despite the delays, Southern Chief Executive Officer Tom Fanning said he supports efforts to stop anyone who cheats to evade tariffs. “China is out there every day trying to lie, cheat and steal to gain economic advantage,” he said in the same interview. “It wouldn’t surprise me that they would try a variety of methods to avoid tariffs and compete in an underhanded way in the U.S.”

NextEra Energy Inc. said last week the U.S. trade investigation could delay as much as 2.8 gigawatts of solar projects planned for this year, and a Washington-based advocacy group said the probe will slash expected domestic installations by 46% this year and next.