Recently, there have been frequent reports of good news in the US photovoltaic industry!
The American Solar Energy Industry Association released a roadmap that includes plans to significantly expand the scale of domestic photovoltaic module production capacity in the United States. According to this plan, the United States will have up to 50GW of photovoltaic module production capacity in 2030.
The former silicon material giant REC will restart its factory in Moses Lake in the United States in 2023 with the support of the South Korean chemical giant Hanwha Group, and has signed procurement contracts with Ferroglobe and Mississippi Silicon in advance, and the latter two will provide REC Silicon with polysilicon raw materials. In the future, REC will even join hands with Mississippi Silicon to build a production line for the entire industry chain from polysilicon to photovoltaic modules.
The expansion plan of the top-level design superimposed enterprises has drawn a blueprint for the prosperity of the US photovoltaic industry. The US photovoltaic industry, which was extremely powerful more than ten years ago, seems to be recovering strongly.
But even if this plan becomes a reality, it will be difficult for the U.S. photovoltaic industry to return to its peak.
The first is the top-level design aspect. The American Solar Energy Industry Association's desire to revive the US photovoltaic industry is not a recent goal, but there are many variables in the implementation process.
During Trump's presidency, he vigorously developed traditional energy sources and even withdrew from the Paris Agreement, which hit the new energy industry in the United States.
Although the current U.S. president announced that he would vigorously develop clean energy during his election campaign, judging from his performance, he did not have a clear plan and did not achieve the expected goal.
The second is investment. More than ten years ago, the United States took full advantage of global capital to support the development of the photovoltaic industry, and a large number of funds and talents flocked to the photovoltaic industry.
Today, more than ten years later, the enthusiasm for photovoltaics in the U.S. capital market "has already faded". Take JinkoSolar, a photovoltaic company listed in China and the United States as an example. As of July 26, its market value in the U.S. stock market was only US$2.94 billion, and the value of the A-share market was as high as 159.3 billion yuan. The huge gap in valuation plays a crucial role in the subsequent development and financing of the company. Without the support of capital, the attractiveness of the company is greatly reduced.
Finally there is the high cost. After more than ten years of development, China's photovoltaic industry has achieved cost reduction and efficiency improvement through technological innovation in different links of the industrial chain, reducing the cost of photovoltaic power generation by nearly 90%. The U.S. photovoltaic industry has been "left behind" in this technological iteration, and it is extremely difficult to catch up.