President Joe Biden's invocation earlier this week of the Defense Production Act (DPA) is a way to get the nation's buy-in for solar panels and other clean energy equipment manufacturing, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary, Jennifer Granholm, said in a June 6 news release.
Biden invoked the DPA, cold war-era legislation generally intended for national defense, to push his clean energy agenda, according to the release.
"President Biden has invoked the Defense Production Act so that the U.S. can take ownership of its clean energy independence," Granholm said.
The U.S. clean energy supply chain has, "for too long" been "over-reliant on foreign sources and adversarial nations," she said.
"With the new DPA authority, DOE can help strengthen domestic solar, heat pump and grid manufacturing industries while fortifying America’s economic security and creating good-paying jobs, and lowering utility costs along the way," Granholm said.
The president's invocation is a directive to DOE to accelerate domestic production in solar, transformers and other electric grid components, heat pumps, insulation, and fuel cells, electrolyzers and platinum group metals, the release stated.
"The DPA determinations are part of the Biden-Harris administration's plan to lower energy costs for families, strengthen national security, and achieve lasting American energy independence that reduces demand for fossil fuels and bolsters our clean energy economy," the release stated.
The invocation comes at a time when reducing the nation's dependence on gas and oil "is critical to national security," Deputy Secretary of Defense, Kathleen Hicks, said in the release.
"In conflict, fossil fuel supply lines are especially vulnerable," Hicks said. "The actions President Biden announced today will help strengthen our supply chains and ensure that the United States is a leader in producing the energy technologies that are essential to our future success. They will also help accelerate DoD’s (Department of Defense) transition toward clean energy technologies that can help strengthen military capability while creating good jobs for American workers."
