Modules & Upstream Manufacturing

LG Electronics has announced plans for a 500 MW/year solar module manufacturing facility in Huntsville to make its NeON2 60-cell 340-W modules. With this and other factories the nation will be well over the 2.5 GW cell exemption under Section 201.

The latest figures from Taiwanese analytics firm PVInsights shows that prices for monocrystalline solar PV products have fallen sharply in a week-on-week comparison. The price drops for wafers were particularly strong.

Through the consultation, the United States aims to settle the dispute over the 30% import tariffs introduced under Section 201.

In the wake of the Section 201 tariffs, the United States is seeing a minor renaissance in solar module manufacturing. However, in terms of why this is happening, the tariffs are only one part of a more complicated story.

Three manufacturers with Canadian module assembly have had no luck in trying to get a preliminary injunction against the Section 201 tariffs.

The new round of IT-related tariffs would make it more expensive for any manufacturers planning to import cells from China for module production in the United States.

GCL’s “Overseas Seeding Initiative” has landed in Brighton, Colorado – dropping in over 330,000 solar panels on single axis trackers.

NV Energy has signed a 25-year power contract for 2.376¢/kWh for the output of a 300 MW solar power plant in Nevada. This represents a new record for the lowest public contract price for solar power in the United States.

The plant is the second-largest planned in the Western Hemisphere, and will triple the thin film module maker’s manufacturing capacity in the United States.

Global oversupply and a collapse in module prices are not good news for manufacturers. But the details are always more complex, and many of the factories planned for the United States appear to be staying the course.