US solar equipment provider Nextpower has signed a three-year deal to supply Jinko Solar with solar PV module frames, made in the US.
The deal, signed with the US subsidiary of the Chinese solar giant, will see Nextpower initially supply more than 1GW of steel frames over the period, with the potential to scale up shipments to 3GW.
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Nextpower said that its steel frames would be built in the US, but did not specify the particular facility at which they would be built; the company did note, however, that the deal is part of its plans to expand its steel frame manufacturing work in the south-eastern US, plans that include the doubling of steel tracker manufacturing capacity in the state of Tennessee.
“Improving module durability and strengthening domestic supply chains are closely linked priorities,” said Jinko Solar US general manager Nigel Cockroft, who described the company as a “leader” in this regard.
“Partnering with Nextpower to integrate domestically produced steel frames into our US modules is a natural extension of that leadership, aligning with US manufacturing priorities, while delivering greater durability at scale for customers and the broader solar industry,” Cockroft continued.
The supply deal is good news for the US solar supply chain, where there have been several efforts made to stimulate local manufacturing of solar products, such as modules. Figures from PV Tech Market Research show that US PV manufacturing capacity increased by more than 800% between the launch of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in 2022 and August 2025.
A solar developer can receive tax adders of up to 10% for using a certain quantity of domestically made products and components in its projects—Imperial Star spoke to PV Tech Premium last year about its development of a robust domestic content calculator to work out these quantities—and Nextpower argues that the use of US-made steel frames could add 6% to a tracker project’s domestic content calculation.
“[The Nextpower-Jinko Solar deal] reinforces how the US solar industry is industrialising, aligning domestic manufacturing, policy incentives and proven technology at gigawatt scale,” added Nextpower CEO and founder Dan Shugar.
After five editions of Large Scale Solar USA, the event becomes SolarPLUS USA to mirror where the market is heading. The 2026 edition, held in Dallas, Texas, on 24-25 March, will bring together developers, investors and utilities to discuss managing hybrid assets, multi-state pipelines, power demand increase from data centres and AI as well as the co-location of solar PV with energy storage in a complex grid. For more details and how to attend the event, visit the website here.
