The U.S. solar industry will soon be able to take advantage of domestically produced solar cells. Enel North America, through its affiliate 3Sun USA, announced its plans to build a silicon solar cell production facility in the United States with an expected minimum production capacity of 3 GW.
Credit: Enel
“Recent policy tailwinds from the Inflation Reduction Act have served as a catalyst for our solar manufacturing ambitions in the U.S., ushering in a new era of made-in-America energy,” said Enrico Viale, head of Enel North America. “With this announcement, it is our intention to bolster a robust domestic solar supply chain that accelerates and strengthens the U.S.’s transition to clean energy. In doing so, we are creating thousands of new jobs, supporting local economies and providing stability to the solar industry.”
The proposed facility could scale to 6 GW annually and is anticipated to create up to 1,500 new direct jobs by 2025. Currently, Enel is evaluating possible sites for the new factory and expects to begin construction in mid-2023. The first cells should come off the line by the end of 2024. Enel also intends to make solar panels at the facility.
Enel already operates the 3Sun solar panel factory in Catania, Italy, which is expanding to 3 GW of annual capacity. That plant makes bifacial solar panels. Enel intends to replicate the Italian facility in the United States to produce bifacial heterojunction technology solar cells and panels.
See a list of U.S. solar panel manufacturers here.
China to the rescue. They will have 500GW production capacity of the fuld supply chain in 2025, so just buy chinese panels, from leading supplier like Trina, Longi, Jinko and a couple of others suppliers. In 2023, and 2024, there will be a supply overcapacity.
There is a problem with this pundit. The 201 trariffs Trump put on Chinese solar PV panels (and) materials is under the tariff and as China owns about 80% of the silicon foundries in the World, all manufacturers who make solar PV panels at one time or another will have to use tariff Chinese solar PV cells to make their panels, this raises the price for everyone in the U.S.. Trump put the 201 tariffs on Chinese materials and Joe Biden has painted himself into a corner. To get the subsidies to manufacture in the U.S. a specific amount of materials (must) be acquired from the U.S. to qualify for the IRA. Right now the only solar PV manufacturer that qualifies for the IRA subsidies that allow the companies to grow very fast in the U.S. is thin film company First Solar.
Then there’s the REC, Ferroglobe and Hanwha amalgamation that is supposed to be good for about another 3 to 6GW of polysilicon. Thin film solar PV panel producer First Solar is on track for 10GW of solar PV capacity and if one adds REC, Enel and First Solar panel output up to around 22GW total, it has been a pundit that Joe Biden’s grid decarbonization by 2035 will require something like 50GW to 80GW solar PV installation (YoY) until 2035. Doesn’t look like that mandate will be met on time or on price for the people.