On Monday evening,?? ?? ?? when all eyes were on congressional action to end the government shutdown, President Donald Trump took a step that could significantly slow the growth of renewable energy in the U.S.

Trump announced a 30 percent tariff on imported solar panels in an effort to encourage the growth of domestic solar panel manufacturers. Currently, most solar panels are built in China and exported to the U.S. and other nations.

The rapid growth in the use of renewable energy, primarily wind and solar power, has been a rare good news story in the fight against global warming, with renewables growing far faster than expected as costs come down at a rapid rate.

SEE ALSO: These visualizations make disturbing 2017 temperature milestone look like modern art

The main effects of the tariff, which was imposed following an International Trade Commission ruling in October, will be to raise the prices of solar panels coming into the country. This, in turn, is likely to filter down to utilities and consumers, and could spur companies to delay or cancel solar projects in favor of cheaper power plants. The Trade Commission had ruled that a glut of cheap solar panels were entering the U.S. and harming domestic manufacturers.

The tariffs would decline each year, eventually coming down to 15 percent in four years.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

The solar industry has reacted to the news with alarm. The Solar Energy Industry Association (SEIA), a trade group, said the decision would cause 23,000 Americans to lose their jobs in 2018, as projects are delayed or canceled altogether. According to the SEIA, the solar industry employs about 260,000 Americans, which is more than the coal industry.

“It boggles my mind that this president -- any president, really -- would voluntarily choose to damage one of the fastest-growing segments of our economy,” said Tony Clifford, the chief development officer of Standard Solar, in a statement.

Referring to the two companies that brought the matter before the Trade Commission, Suniva and SolarWorld, Clifford said: “This decision is misguided and denies the reality that bankrupt foreign companies will be the beneficiaries of an American taxpayer bailout.”

Abigail Ross Hopper, SEIA's president and CEO, said the tariffs the administration announced are lower than what the two companies that brought the action before the Trade Commission had sought.

“While we believe the decision will be significantly harmful to our industry and the economy, we appreciate that the president and the administration listened to our arguments,” Hopper said in a statement. “Our industry will emerge from this. The case for solar energy is just too strong to be held down for long, but the severe near-term impacts of these tariffs are unfortunate and avoidable.”

Mashable Light Speed Want more out-of-this world tech, space and science stories? Sign up for Mashable's weekly Light Speed newsletter. By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Thanks for signing up!

With the global temperatures rising rapidly toward the targets set in the Paris Climate Agreement, any delay in bringing renewable power plants on line can be thought of as risky. This is because it would allow fossil fuel power plants, particularly those burning natural gas, to stay online for longer, releasing planet-warming greenhouse gases into the air.

Stopping renewables in their tracks?

A comprehensive report released in October showed that during 2016, for the first time ever, solar photovoltaics, or solar PV, was the fastest growing form of electricity around the world, beating the net growth in coal. This was also the case in the U.S. during 2015 and 2016.

Via Giphy

The tariffs are unlikely to reverse this trend, but they may put a dent in solar's growth rate in the U.S. According to a report from GTM Research, the U.S. solar market will see a net 11 percent decrease in solar installations due to the tariffs, when compared to what would be installed without the tariffs in place. This translates into a 7.6-gigawatt reduction in installed solar power plants through 2022.

The tariffs are in keeping with an administration that has been openly hostile to climate change policies and renewables in general.

The White House has announced its intention to pull the U.S. out of the landmark Paris Climate Agreement, making it the only country on Earth intending to stay out of the agreement. The climate treaty contains emissions targets that incentivize using more renewable energy.

In addition, the Environmental Protection Agency has taken steps to remove Obama-era policies governing carbon emissions from power plants, which is aimed at improving the fortunes of the withering coal industry.

The effects of the tariff, though, may be more limited than environmental activists and some solar industry players fear.

According to Amy Grace, the head of North American research for Bloomberg New Energy Finance, the tariffs are far more likely to result in delayed or canceled projects from electric utilities, rather than harming homeowners who wish to go solar by putting panels on their roof. This is in part because there is more economic wiggle room with residential projects that would allow the solar panel price to go up and for the homeowner to still eventually break even on the deal.

Via Giphy

Utilities, on the other hand, that are more sensitive to fluctuations in the costs of their large-scale projects. Any jump in the cost of solar panels could make a project unprofitable.

“The impact on the residential side is definitely much less than the impact on the utility side,” said Grace, in an interview.

Grace added that the tariffs that were chosen were in the middle of the range suggested by the trade panel, indicating that Trump may not have it in for solar power after all. (The same cannot be said for wind power, which he's consistently railed against for killing birds.)

“If he really had a vendetta against the industry he would’ve gone outside of that [recommended range],” Grace said. “I really don’t think that this is him going after the solar industry.”

Yet judging from how solar industry leaders are reacting, this could still inflict a significant blow to a rapidly growing sector of the economy, which will have ramifications for both traditional utilities, new ventures such as Tesla's solar roof tiles, and more.

---

Featured Video For You

---

This school is covered with 12,000 solar panels, which cover half its electricity needs

---