After the passing of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) into law, solar PV and storage are expected to create up to 115,000 manufacturing workers in the US by 2030.
US independent power producer (IPP) Silicon Ranch has expanded its master supply deal with domestic PV module manufacturer First Solar, bringing the total agreed supply between the companies to 6.2GW.
Long-term domestic supply deals and strategic partnerships between companies in the PV value chain are increasingly key to long-term supply chain security and ensuring project delivery to appropriate standards.
A total of 4.7GW of utility-scale solar capacity was installed in Q4 2022 in the US, but the difficulties in sourcing modules caused a delay in installations, according to industry body the American Clean Power Association.
US PV incentives should be entirely focused on solar cell manufacturing in the short term, with maximum incentive rates given to domestic solar cell production that ultimately has a risk-free supply chain of materials and equipment, writes Finlay Colville, head of research at PV Tech.
Solar power will dominate new electric-generating capacity additions in the US this year, according to the Energy Information Administration's (EIA) Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory.
For large, utility-scale European PV projects, the key to growth and success in the coming years may be in partnerships and consistency across both engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) and environmental, social and governance (ESG) frameworks, as legislators and utilities lag behind the industry’s rapid growth.
Amid potential supply chain bottlenecks as China increases its PV manufacturing dominance, companies in markets such as the US, India and Europe are looking to leverage new policy support to scale up domestic production. Jules Scully charts the industry’s efforts to onshore solar module manufacturing.
