US solar factories strike deal to produce 'Made in USA' panels
Source: Reuters
March 27, 2024 6:11 AM EDT
March 27 (Reuters) - Two small solar manufacturers on Wednesday said they are joining forces to make panels that will enable their customers, U.S. solar project developers, to collect on a lucrative new federal subsidy for American-made clean energy equipment.
The agreement between Georgia-based solar cell producer Suniva and Canada's Heliene, which has panel-making operations in Minnesota, is being touted by the Biden administration as evidence that Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) subsidies are succeeding in building a domestic solar manufacturing industry to compete with China.
"Before this Administration, solar companies across the United States were struggling," Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who will visit Suniva's Norcross, Georgia, facility later on Wednesday, said in a statement provided to Reuters. She noted that 20% of U.S. solar manufacturing jobs were lost between 2016 and 2020. Suniva itself is restarting an idled factory.
"Now, though there remain significant challenges, Inflation Reduction Act tax credits are helping change the game," Yellen added. Under the three-year, $400 million deal, Suniva will supply cells to Heliene, which will assemble them into panels. The products will be able to supply about 2 gigawatts of solar projects, according to Suniva. That would be enough capacity to power about 350,000 homes.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/us-solar-factories-strike-deal-produce-made-usa-panels-2024-03-27/
It's a shame that for some sectors, we have to "relearn" how to make something "in house" (in USA) by sourcing from "local" (in USA) suppliers. So much had been "outsourced" overseas over the past 30+ years.
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shade on solar development in this country.
Reagan removed these from the West Wing as one of his first actions as new President...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=
&w=1200
