Pentagon shoots down concerns over Chinese solar panels
The Department of Defense is rejecting recent concerns that a project to install solar panels on the roof of the Pentagon and other installations would use Chinese materials.
The Pentagon pushback came after Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin penned a letter to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin last week expressing concerns that a $104 million, taxpayer-funded plan to add solar panels to the Pentagon and other installations would make use of Chinese materials, which the governor warned would have "significant implications for U.S. national security."
"The DOD will not be installing Chinese-manufactured solar panels on the Pentagon," a Pentagon spokesperson told Fox News Digital. "The Department adheres to the requirements of the Buy American Act in making clean energy, energy efficiency, and clean energy procurement decisions."
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Youngkin's letter came in response to a January Department of Defense announcement on the planned project, which the Pentagon said was part of the Biden administration's effort to promote clean energy and "reestablish the federal government as a sustainability leader."
In addition to the Pentagon, 30 other Defense Department sites were slated to receive the panels, including military installations like the U.S. Army Garrison in Wiesbaden, Germany.
Youngkin shared his concerns with that plan, noting "companies highly influenced or controlled by the CCP dominate the global solar supply chain," making it necessary the U.S. "require that military procurements for solar panels must come from verified domestic manufacturers with trusted supply chains."
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But the Pentagon made clear in its response that it would be following the Buy American Act, telling Fox News Digital it has a "rigorous and extensive oversight process to ensure compliance with the law, domestic preference and trade agreement partner statutes implemented by the Federal Acquisition Regulation and for DOD, the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement."
"Looking to the future, the Department is leveraging its considerable purchasing power to support the ability of the U.S. carbon pollution free energy industry and related allied commercial supply chains to rapidly grow and provide resilient, diversified, clean energy generation to support our warfighters," the Pentagon spokesperson said.
A spokesperson for Youngkin's office welcomed the news, saying the governor is "pleased that Secretary Austin will follow his recommendations to adopt the ‘Made in America’ requirements for procuring Chinese solar panels."
"It's essential that we recognize China’s objective to dominate the world at America’s expense, and it's critical for America to decouple its renewable energy sector from China and achieve energy independence to safeguard our national security," the spokesperson said.