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An industry gathering in Austin, Texas, held on 22-23 September, brought together more than 400 attendees to examine domestic solar manufacturing, according to pv magazine. The publication reported that intelligence collected at Solar Manufacturing USA 2026 on the U.S.-specific production and capital expenditure plans of more than 60 manufacturers has since been analysed.
The event coincided with the release of a new quarterly report on U.S. solar manufacturing, and the publication said it would present one aspect of the report’s key findings each day during the week.
The first instalment of the Austin debrief series focuses on domestic U.S. production volumes through the end of 2027. The report tracks and forecasts domestic solar manufacturing capital expenditure and production volumes for more than 40 companies through the end of 2030, with the company count set to grow in 2027. Those companies account for more than 99 percent of value-chain production through at least the end of 2027.
According to the publication, the report segments production and capital expenditure at the company level by manufacturing site, expansion phase, technology, effective ramped capacity, capacity conversion rates and production outputs, all on a quarterly basis. Capital expenditure is further broken down each quarter at the site and expansion level across buildings and infrastructure, production equipment, and upgrades and maintenance.
Forecasting module production at the company level through the end of 2030 is described as one of the report’s most important outputs. Beyond total quarterly and annual volumes, the data allows company-by-company estimates of volumes available for new third-party module procurement during the four-year window from 2027 to 2030.
The publication noted that module buyers are less focused on total volumes than on which companies will have module availability for projects in that period. It said each manufacturer has its own criteria: First Solar has the longest pipeline of committed domestic output, while Illuminate and Canadian Solar have in-house commitments to downstream project activities. Other companies focus on rooftop or small commercial shipments and are therefore not competing for 100-500 MW project business. Many companies are new to manufacturing, and some are entirely new firms without a track record of commercial operations.
The publication characterised module availability for secure high-volume domestic supply in the 2028-2030 period as a mixed picture, adding that company-level knowledge outweighs overall market production metrics and capacity-counting analyses that it said have been unhelpful to the U.S. sector since the Inflation Reduction Act was introduced at the end of 2022.
Forecasting module production volumes over the next 12 to 18 months presents its own challenges, apart from a few exceptions among companies running factories today with strong backlog commitments. The publication identified imported solar cell volumes as the greatest swing factor, along with developments leading up to and after Section 232 at the start of December.
Imported cell volumes, based on monthly United States International Trade Commission numbers and accumulated HTC codes, appear decidedly low relative to recent levels, though the publication said this may be corrected over time. As a result, overall 2026 volumes, particularly those leading up to December, remain unknown, even if stockpiling becomes an issue that can be proven at the company or importer level.
The publication observed that even without Section 232 taking effect during 2026, a significant second-half import uptick was inevitable given new ramped capacity being rolled out across a wide range of existing and new market entrants. Each entrant must now demonstrate that its cell import increase relative to historic volumes stems from greater effective module capacity or from being a new entrant, rather than from stockpiling cells ahead of the minimum import price coming into effect. The publication anticipated considerable time and effort being spent on this issue in the first months of 2027.
One takeaway from Austin, according to the publication, was a business-as-usual approach from many crystalline silicon module producers for 2027: continuing to buy cells from overseas at prices in the twenty-cent range and hoping to sell modules at levels in the forty-cent range, while trying to make the books work as best as possible.
The publication noted that new cell factories take 12 to 24 months to come online in the United States, and that even if a suitable location or shell building can be found, upfront costs ahead of production are substantial.
A follow-up article was said to present new analysis for cell production through the end of 2027. The publication suggested that 2027, the first year after Section 232, could easily become a record year for crystalline silicon solar cell imports, and it raised the question of what that says about U.S. trade policy in supporting domestic manufacturing some five years after the Inflation Reduction Act was introduced.
Turning to the module production forecast for 2027, the publication said headline numbers may show record module production metrics, but the reality remains a fragmented landscape trying to release capital into new factories while seeking some form of certainty on profitability and long-term growth. The forecast covers module production from the first quarter of 2025 through the fourth quarter of 2027. The upside scenario reflects production-led growth assuming sufficient cell volumes are imported during 2027, while the downside scenario would take hold if the market is constrained either by project offtake volumes falling below production targets or by resistance to buying cells under minimum import price conditions.
The publication stated that the content is protected by copyright and may not be reused without contacting the publisher.
Interactive table based on the Store Companies dataset for this report.
This report is an independent strategic market study that provides a structured, commercially grounded analysis of the market for Solar Cells and Module in the United States. It is designed for battery and storage manufacturers, power-electronics suppliers, system integrators, EPC partners, developers, utilities, investors, and strategic entrants that need a clear view of deployment demand, technology positioning, manufacturing exposure, safety and qualification burden, project economics, and competitive structure.
The analytical framework is designed to work both for a single specialized storage or conversion component and for a broader renewable energy generation component, where market structure is shaped by chemistry, duration, project economics, system integration, safety requirements, route-to-market, and grid-interface logic rather than by one narrow customs heading alone. It defines Solar Cells and Module as Semiconductor devices that convert sunlight directly into electricity, manufactured as individual cells and assembled into modules (panels) for integration into solar power systems and examines the market through deployment use cases, buyer environments, upstream input dependencies, conversion and integration stages, qualification and safety requirements, pricing architecture, commercial channels, and country capability differences. Historical analysis typically covers 2012 to 2025, with forward-looking scenarios through 2035.
This report is designed to answer the questions that matter most to decision-makers evaluating an energy-storage, battery, renewable-integration, or power-conversion market.
At its core, this report explains how the market for Solar Cells and Module actually functions. It identifies where demand originates, how supply is organized, which technological and regulatory barriers influence adoption, and how value is distributed across the value chain. Rather than describing the market only in broad terms, the study breaks it into analytically meaningful layers: product scope, segmentation, end uses, customer types, production economics, outsourcing structure, country roles, and company archetypes.
The report is particularly useful in markets where buyers are highly specialized, suppliers differ significantly in technical depth and regulatory readiness, and the commercial landscape cannot be understood only through top-line market size figures. In this context, the study is designed not only to estimate the size of the market, but to explain why the market has that size, what drives its growth, which subsegments are the most attractive, and what it takes to compete successfully within it.
The report is based on an independent analytical methodology that combines deep secondary research, structured evidence review, market reconstruction, and multi-level triangulation. The methodology is designed to support products for which there is no single clean official dataset capturing the full market in a directly usable form.
The study typically uses the following evidence hierarchy:
The analytical framework is built around several linked layers.
First, a scope model defines what is included in the market and what is excluded, ensuring that adjacent products, downstream finished goods, unrelated instruments, or broader chemical categories do not distort the market boundary.
Second, a demand model reconstructs the market from the perspective of consuming sectors, workflow stages, and applications. Depending on the product, this may include Grid-connected solar farms, Commercial rooftop installations, Residential solar systems, Industrial self-consumption projects, Off-grid electrification, and Solar-powered consumer electronics and mobility across Power Generation (Utilities/IPPs), Commercial Real Estate, Industrial Manufacturing, Residential Construction, Telecommunications, and Public Infrastructure and Technology R&D and Pilot Lines, Capacity Planning and CAPEX Deployment, Supply Chain Sourcing and Qualification, Manufacturing Process Optimization, Quality Assurance and Certification, Sales Channel and Distribution Setup, and Project Design and System Integration. Demand is then allocated across end users, development stages, and geographic markets.
Third, a supply model evaluates how the market is served. This includes Polysilicon, Silicon Wafers (Mono Grown, Cast Multi), Solar Glass, Encapsulation Materials (EVA, POE), Backsheets, Frames (Aluminum), Silver Paste & Conductive Adhesives, and Specialty Gases and Chemicals, manufacturing technologies such as Passivated Emitter and Rear Cell (PERC), Tunnel Oxide Passivated Contact (TOPCon), Heterojunction Technology (HJT), Interdigitated Back Contact (IBC), Bifacial Module Design, Half-Cell and Shingled Cell Interconnection, and Advanced Module Encapsulation and Framing, quality control requirements, outsourcing, contract manufacturing, integration, and project-delivery participation, distribution structure, and supply-chain concentration risks.
Fourth, a country capability model maps where the market is consumed, where production is materially feasible, where manufacturing capability is limited or emerging, and which countries function primarily as innovation hubs, supply nodes, demand centers, or import-reliant markets.
Fifth, a pricing and economics layer evaluates price corridors, cost drivers, complexity premiums, outsourcing logic, margin structure, and switching barriers. This is especially relevant in markets where product grade, purity, customization, regulatory burden, or service model materially influence economics.
Finally, a competitive intelligence layer profiles the leading company types active in the market and explains how strategic roles differ across upstream material suppliers, component and controls providers, OEMs, storage-system integrators, EPC partners, project developers, and distribution or service channels.
This report covers the market for Solar Cells and Module in its commercially relevant and technologically meaningful form. The scope typically includes the product itself, its major product configurations or variants, the critical technologies used to produce or deliver it, the core input categories required for manufacturing, and the services directly associated with its commercial supply, quality control, or integration into end-user workflows.
Included within scope are the product forms, use cases, inputs, and services that are necessary to understand the actual addressable market around Solar Cells and Module. This usually includes:
Excluded from scope are categories that may be technologically adjacent but do not belong to the core economic market being measured. These usually include:
The exact inclusion and exclusion logic is always a critical part of the study, because the quality of the market estimate depends directly on disciplined scope boundaries.
The report provides focused coverage of the United States market and positions United States within the wider global energy-storage and renewable-integration industry structure.
The geographic analysis explains local deployment demand, domestic capability, import dependence, project-development relevance, safety and approval burden, and the country’s strategic role in the wider market.
This study is designed for strategic, commercial, operations, project-delivery, and investment users, including:
In many energy-transition, storage, power-conversion, and project-driven markets, official trade and production statistics are not sufficient on their own to describe the true market. Product boundaries may cut across multiple tariff codes, several product categories may be bundled into the same official classification, and a meaningful share of activity may take place through customized services, captive supply, platform relationships, or technically specialized channels that are not directly visible in standard statistical datasets.
For this reason, the report is designed as a modeled strategic market study. It uses official and public evidence wherever it is reliable and scope-compatible, but it does not force the market into a purely statistical framework when doing so would reduce analytical quality. Instead, it reconstructs the market through the logic of demand, supply, technology, country roles, and company behavior.
This makes the report particularly well suited to products that are innovation-intensive, technically differentiated, capacity-constrained, platform-dependent, or commercially structured around specialized buyer-supplier relationships rather than standardized commodity trade.
The report typically includes:
The result is a structured, publication-grade market intelligence document that combines quantitative modeling with commercial, technical, and strategic interpretation.
Energy-Storage Market Structure and Company Archetypes
Leading US solar module producer; vertically integrated
Now part of Maxeon Solar Technologies (US HQ); premium residential/commercial
Key supplier for module-level power electronics
Major inverter supplier for residential/commercial
Swiss-origin but US-headquartered subsidiary; US production
US HQ for Hanwha's solar arm; large US factory in Georgia
Chinese parent but US-headquartered sales and distribution
US HQ for Chinese-based manufacturer; major importer
Canadian parent but US-headquartered operations
Chinese parent; US HQ for sales and service
Largest US residential solar company; not a module manufacturer
Acquired by Sunrun; still operates as brand
Major US solar-as-a-service provider
Produces modules at Gigafactory New York
US-based module producer; owned by OCI Company
Canadian-origin but US-headquartered subsidiary
Canadian-origin but US-headquartered manufacturing
Small US module assembler
Focus on aesthetic residential modules
Specializes in architectural solar glass
Acquired by SunPower; coating technology
German-origin but US HQ for sales; wafer technology
Acquired by Hanwha; US-based wafer technology
Focus on perovskite-silicon tandem cells
Acquired by First Solar; technology integrated
US cell and module producer; filed for bankruptcy, restarted
Former US manufacturer; assets acquired by SunPower
Small US module assembler
Part of Saint-Gobain; US HQ for solar roofing
Subsidiary of Standard Industries; US-based
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