U.S. Solar Market Shines Bright for Panel, Cell Manufacturing

Players in the U.S. energy market increasingly believe it is not enough simply to generate renewable energy--the nation should do more to build its components, such as solar panels and cells. With China currently producing most of the panels used at U.S. facilities, companies that generate solar power domestically are primed to take advantage of last year's Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which offers a 10% tax credit to facilities built with panels containing domestically made solar cells. Industrial Info is tracking more than $7 billion worth of active solar panel- and cell-manufacturing projects across the U.S., nearly $3 billion of which is attributed to projects already under construction.

But time is of the essence: IRA incentives for domestically made solar cells will begin to phase out at the end of this decade. Construction already started earlier this year on one of the highest-valued projects in the entire U.S. renewable-energy market: Hanwha Q Cells' (Seoul, South Korea) $1.8 billion solar module-manufacturing plant in Cartersville, Georgia. Q Cells announced that it would build the plant following the passage of the IRA, with construction kicking off in March. Completion is expected toward the end of 2024.

The Cartersville plant is designed to manufacture 3.3 gigawatts (GW) worth of panels per year. Q Cells also is upping production at one of its existing facilities, with the $200 million expansion of its solar module-manufacturing plant in Dalton, Georgia, about 50 miles north of Cartersville. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Industrial Manufacturing Project Database can read detailed reports on the Cartersville plant and Dalton expansion.

Earlier this year, Wood Mackenzie (Edinburgh, Scotland) published a report saying the IRA could lead to a 78% increase in investments across the U.S. in low-carbon energy. For more information, see January 20, 2023, article - Report: U.S. Can Expect Huge Influx in Low-Carbon Investments.

First Solar Incorporated (NASDAQ:FSLR) (Tempe, Arizona), which plans to manufacture more than 10 GW worth of solar cells within the U.S. by 2025, expects to finish construction in the coming months on its $680 million factory in Perrysburg, Ohio. The facility will produce 3.3 GW per year of advanced, thin-film photovoltaic (PV) solar modules. Ohio is expected to see nearly 8.8 GW of mostly utility-scale solar installed over the next five years, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA).

In March, First Solar picked up a multi-year order from EDP Renewables North America LLC, a subsidiary of Energias de Portugal S.A. (Lisbon, Portugal), for 1.8 GW of thin-film PV modules. In addition to its Ohio project, First Solar is proposing a thin-film PV plant in Trinity, Alabama, which the company believes could manufacture up to 3.5 GW per year. The project, announced in November by Alabama's Governor Kay Ivey (R), is expected to be commissioned in 2025. Subscribers can learn more from Industrial Info's reports on the Perrysburg and Trinity projects.

Illuminate USA, a recently established joint venture between renewable-energy company Invenergy (Chicago, Illinois) and solar panel manufacturer LONGi (Xi'an, China), is preparing to begin construction this summer on a $600 million solar panel plant in Pataskala, Ohio. The company is renovating a 1.1 million-square-foot building to manufacture up to 5 GW of modules per year, which it says represents nearly 50% of total U.S. utility-scale solar installations in 2022. Subscribers can learn more from a detailed project report.

Ohio's strong manufacturing sector has made it a top destination for solar panel producers, both in the utility-scale and residential markets.

Subscribers to Industrial Info's GMI Project Database can click here for a full list of detailed reports for projects mentioned in this article, and click here for a full list of related plant profiles.

Subscribers can click here for a full list of reports for active solar panel- and cell-manufacturing projects across the U.S.