Plans to install 60 square kilometers of solar panels in Vermont are suddenly on hold.
In Maine, a solar farm that would power hundreds of homes is partly built but might not be completed.
And a project in Texas that would have powered more than 10,000 homes was weeks away from breaking ground but has now been postponed until at least next year.
Around the country, solar companies are delaying projects, scrambling for supplies, shutting down construction sites and warning that tens of billions of dollars — and tens of thousands of jobs — are at risk.
The tumult is the result of a decision by the Commerce Department to investigate whether Chinese companies are circumventing U.S. tariffs by moving components for solar panels through four Southeast Asian countries.
Though officials have not yet found any evidence of trade violations, the threat of retroactive tariffs has effectively…
