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When US solar firm Suniva went out of business in 2017, it looked like the end of the road for the country’s oldest domestic supplier of monocrystalline solar cells. In fact, it seemed to be the end of the road for single crystal manufacturing in the United States. Nevertheless, hope is eternal. If all goes according to plan, the US solar industry will finally have monocrystalline solar cells made in the US.
Where are all the US-made solar cells?
The US solar industry is growing at a record pace on the installation end, but the manufacturing side has been slow to catch up. Today’s solar technology consists of solar cells made of silicon crystals. Polycrystalline cells, made from silicon crystals fused together, are cheaper but not as efficient as monocrystalline cells, and none are currently manufactured in the United States.
U.S. solar manufacturers and installers rely on imported solar cells and panels to fuel the industry’s growth, raising concerns that an influx of imports will swamp the domestic industry again.
“An unprecedented wave of imported solar panels, mainly from Southeast Asia, will hit US shores in 2023 amid growing concerns about the impact on America’s solar manufacturing renaissance,” S&P Global reported earlier this year.
“US panel imports rose to a record 54 GW last year, up 82% from 2022, almost tenfold over the past five years,” S&P noted, citing data from the US Census Bureau.
As for the source of the panels, S&P says the Biden administration has introduced a temporary moratorium on anti-dumping and anti-circumvention tariffs covering monocrystalline solar cells and modules in 2022. The exemption was supposed to apply only to Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, but the US Commerce Department found that some Chinese solar firms were also taking advantage of the loophole.
Here they are!
If all of this is starting to ring some bells about Suniva, run right out and buy yourself a cigar. “Suniva, the Chinese-owned, US-based solar manufacturer that initiated the Section 201 trade case that led to a 30% tariff on all imported solar cells and modules, was released from bankruptcy proceedings this week thanks to its intervention. SQN Capital Management,” CleanTechnica noted in June 2018 (see additional coverage of Suniva’s ownership here and our full Suniva archive here ).
Suniva soon left our radar completely, but that was then. The Biden moratorium is set to expire in June, and Suniva is back on the block.
In October last year, Reuters reported on Suniva’s plans to restart its solar cell manufacturing operation in Norcross, Georgia, with an initial capacity of 1 gigawatt per year. Reuters noted that the company’s president, Matt Card, is crediting stimulus in the Inflation Reduction Act for the recovery.
“Solar cells can succeed in this market. We’re proving that and we’re coming back in a big way very, very quickly,” Card told Reuters.
Reuters also noted that New York firm Lion Point Capital (not to be confused with Lionpoint Group) is the current owner of Suniva, which took over when the company emerged from bankruptcy in 2019. Lion Point Capital describes itself as a “global investment”. firm that seeks to invest in equity and debt securities of undervalued public and private companies.
Full Steam Ahead for US Solar Cell Factory
Another New York firm, Orion Infrastructure Capital, also name-checked by Reuters, has provided financing for Suniva to expand its Georgia facility. The same firm is also financing a new solar cell and solar panel factory in Minnesota under the umbrella of Canadian solar manufacturing firm Heliene.
Connecting the dots, on March 27, Suniva issued a press release explaining that it had entered into a three-year strategic procurement agreement with Heliene, under which Heliene’s new factory in Minnesota will house solar cells from Suniva’s US facility..
“The Heliene modules will be the first crystalline solar modules with a US-made solar cell,” Suniva emphasized, making them eligible for a 10% tax credit for renewable energy technologies under the Inflation Reduction Act.
“Currently, all US-made solar crystal modules use only imported cells,” Suniva said. “This partnership will directly address a gap in the U.S. solar supply chain and help strengthen manufacturing capacity to meet growing demand for domestic products.”
Suniva CEO Cristiano Amoruso was particularly keen to credit the role of the Inflation Reduction Act.
“This agreement is a testament to the effectiveness of the Inflation Reduction Act and Treasury’s May 2023 local content guidance. We are proud to fulfill our long-standing promise to bring cell manufacturing back to the United States at our Norcross facility,” Amoruso said in a March 27 press release.
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What’s in Georgia?
Note that the Inflation Reduction Act is the climate law signed by President Biden. It passed Congress in 2022 with exactly zero votes from Republican lawmakers. Fortunately for Georgia job seekers, Democrats in the House and Senate had their day.
It’s true that some Georgia state officials continue to criticize the Inflation Reduction Act, even as their own economic development agencies spend state dollars to attract new cleantech investors to the state.
The Norcross solar cell factory is slated to create 250 new jobs in Georgia just for starters, and it’s not the only example of the state’s IRA-fueled solar resurgence. For example, last October, the Global Atlanta news organization noted when Korean solar panel maker Qcells completed its third expansion in Georgia.
“Walking the political tightrope, Qcells touted the solar incentives included in the IRA as the necessary regulatory framework for the company to thrive, while praising the Georgia Department of Economic Development’s ‘incredible support,'” Global Atlanta noted. reporter Trevor Williams.
Other cleantech businesses are also driving job growth in the state. Due in part to business-friendly labor laws, Georgia is also seeing a boom in EV battery manufacturing with the help of the Georgia Department of Economic Development.
While clean-tech manufacturers are looking for locations with access to renewable energy, Georgia has some work to do.
“Georgia, the capital of electric vehicle manufacturing, needs to increase electricity generated without burning fossil fuels to meet the clean energy demand of industries,” Gov. Brian Kemp told world business leaders Thursday, The Associated Press reported in January. .
You don’t say! Georgia’s solar industry has established a respectable track record for installed solar capacity, so the addition of new solar cell and panel installations in the state will help spur additional growth.
On the other hand, Kemp, a Republican, could make a case to add to the state’s nuclear energy profile despite long delays and cost overruns related to the Vogtle NPP expansion. If you have any thoughts about it, drop us a note in the comment section.
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Image: Suniva will begin production of its monocrystalline silicon solar cells in Georgia later this year (photo cropped, courtesy of Suniva via US Department of Energy).
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