L R AS Published on Saturday 9 December 2023 - n° 469 - Categories:US policy, the American PV
We can already see the limits of the US inflation reduction law
Under the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), manufacturers have focused on panel production. Few chose to manufacture cells. As a result,
The current cell capacity that can be produced in the United States will not be sufficient to supply the 150 GW of panel capacity announced for 2027, according to Clean Energy Associates (CEA). This means that Americans will remain dependent on Chinese cell imports. Many American manufacturers will have to be persuaded to produce cells. The situation is similar for wafers (and silicon).
https://www.pv-tech.org/us-faces-imbalance-of-domestic-module-capacity-versus-cells-says-cea/
PV Tech, 7 December 2023
Editor's note This predicted shortage of silicon, wafers and cells in the United States highlights the difficulty of re-establishing a photovoltaic industrial environment when it has been disrupted by company closures. It is difficult to revive the missing parts, because it is necessary to recover or recreate know-how that has been forgotten or lost.
This underlines the importance of the three silicon manufacturers in Europe that have been allowed to disappear without any attempt to preserve their know-how. It soon became clear that these disappearances were an industrial and economic disaster
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According to SEIA and Wood Mackenzie, the United States could install 33 GW of solar power by 2023. The increase would be 55% over 2022, slightly better than previously forecast due to the effects of the US Inflation Reduction Act. Solar power accounted for almost half (48%) of all new electricity generation capacity additions in the first three quarters of 2023. This brings total installed solar capacity in the US to 161 GW with 4.7 million installations.
After this catch-up, growth in solar installations would be 10% in 2024 due to a difficult economic environment.
PV Magazine 8 December 2023
