This is an extract from a recent report “The State Of Clean Energy Manufacturing” published by American Clean Power.

• Nearly 30 new utility-scale solar PV manufacturing facilities started production in 2025

• More than one-third of the new facilities manufacture crystalline silicon and thin film solar modules. Solar tracker and inverter production represented the majority of other new facilities. 

• Over 300 online manufacturing facilities support the solar supply chain, spanning 42 states. Each facility enhances supply chain security and reduces reliance on imports. 

• There are more than 140 facilities in 30 states that produce primary components like modules, cells, ingots and wafers, trackers, racking systems, among others. 

• Over the past five years the number of online solar primary component manufacturing plants in the U.S. has grown by close to 150%. While much of that growth is concentrated in module manufacturing, U.S. solar cell capacity is on track for a similar expansion.

Downstream Solar Facilities

• In 2025, U.S. module manufacturers commissioned 15 GW of new capacity, with total annual capacity reaching 63 GW – sufficient to meet average demand from U.S. utility solar installations. This represents a rapid increase in manufacturing capacity of more than 1600% in a 5-year period. Total module capability is expected to increase to over 85 GW/year by the end of the decade. 

• Utility-scale solar module production primarily falls into two commercial technologies: crystalline silicon (c-Si) and thin-film (typically CdTe). Of U.S. module manufacturing capability, thin-film accounts for 14 GW and c-Si the remaining 49 GW. 

• Domestic solar module capacity already outpaces installation demand. To capture more domestic value, c-Si module manufacturing must use U.S. c-Si cells.

• C-Si module production with domestic cells, in combination with domestic thin-film capacity could meet annual solar demand by 2027.

Downstream Solar Facilities

• 3 c-Si cell facilities are now active. The first launched in 2024, the second in 2025, and the third in Q1 2026. 

• Cell capacity has been slower to onshore than module manufacturing, primarily because it requires secure offtake from established downstream manufacturers to justify the significant capital investment. 

• If all planned facilities reach full capacity, domestic supply could cover 50% of c-Si module manufacturing demand when operating at full utilization. 

• Announced cell capacity falls just shy of average total solar installation demand by 2030. However, with c-Si expected to hold about 60% solar technology market share, cell capacity will likely exceed c-Si module installation demand. 

• Domestic cell manufacturers are partnering with developers and manufacturers across the solar supply chain to increase domestic content in U.S. solar installations. In fact, the first U.S.-made solar module with domestic cell, wafers, and polysilicon was announced in Q1 of 2025. 

• Localizing cell production is essential to increasing domestic content in the c-Si supply chain and the industry is responding to this need.

Upstream Solar Facilities

• Corning is the exclusive producer of solar ingots and wafers in the U.S. Corning’s 2025 nameplate capacity can satisfy nearly 25% of current U.S. cell manufacturing needs. 

• Anticipated ingot and wafer capabilities will more than double by the end of the decade but will still be less than domestically manufactured cell demand and even less of total solar demand. 

• U.S. polysilicon capacity is more than enough to meet domestic ingot and wafer demand. However, it falls short of both domestic cell production and overall solar installation demand despite announced capacity expansion. 

• Akin to c-Si cell manufacturing needing the demand pull of module capacity, the onshoring of ingot and wafer manufacturing is necessary to incentivize increased domestic polysilicon capacity. 

• A larger U.S. cell manufacturing base could make it more appealing to reshore ingot and to reshore ingot and wafer manufacturing and in turn domestic polysilicon production. Until this onshoring materializes, cell manufacturers will rely on imported wafers. 

• U.S. companies often export domestic polysilicon to foreign manufacturers, then re-import it as wafers or cells to be manufactured into modules domestically.

Solar Balance of System and Module Bill of Materials Facilities

• The almost 70 tracker and racking component manufacturing facilities online are spread out across 25 states, ensuring that nearly all solar PV installations in the U.S. can source trackers and racking rails domestically. 

• Due to prior cost effectiveness, solar frames were historically made from imported aluminum. There has been a wave of new domestic steel frame manufacturing announcements in recent years, positioning steel to be a cost-competitive, stronger, and more durable alternative to imported aluminum. 

• There are 50 E-BOS component manufacturing facilities in the U.S. These include the inverters, wiring, cables, transformers, switchgears, and junction boxes of a solar facility. 

• Recycling solar panels introduces additional manufacturing opportunity and supports supply chain resilience by retaining critical materials within U.S. borders. Over 25 solar panel recyclers are in operation in the U.S. and companies are working towards circularity of raw materials, like aluminum and glass, in the solar supply chain.

U.S. Solar Manufacturing Pipeline

• Despite policy headwinds, utility-scale solar manufacturing is poised for strong, sustained growth. 

• ACP is tracking over 50 additional manufacturing sites in 20 states that are either under construction or announced across the solar supply chain. Of these sites, 40 are manufacturing primary solar components. 

• Alongside unprecedented growth, there remains opportunity for more. Ingot and wafer production sits as a domestic choke point for the supply chain. Onshoring solar-specific glass production presents another major supply chain prospect as there currently is no domestic capacity. As a result, near-term imports must remain cost efficient to best support the competitiveness of domestic downstream manufacturing

International Solar Imports

• From quarter to quarter throughout 2025, solar component imports shifted drastically, both in value imported and origin countries. This variance is due to ongoing antidumping and counterveiling duty (AD/CVD) investigations and onshoring of domestic manufacturing. 

In 2025, solar imports are down an estimated 33% from 2024 levels. 

• As domestic module manufacturing has scaled, there was a notable 57% decrease in module imports since 2024. 

• Conversely, cell imports increased by 27% from 2024 levels to satisfy growing demand for module inputs. • Inverter imports declined 11% from 2024 levels. 

• There were notable sourcing shifts away from Thailand and Vietnam throughout 2025 due to the April 2025 “Solar 3” AD/CVD determination. 

• Later in the year, the industry then shifted away from Laotian and Indian imports because of the “Solar 4” AD/CVD pending investigation. 

• Despite tariffs between 86 – 104%, Indonesian imports for module and cell continued throughout 2025. 

• In an effort to shift away from highly tariffed markets, imports from countries not yet subject to AD/CVD investigations tended to trend upward.

International Solar Supply Chain

• It is estimated that 2025 module installations followed a one-third thin-film and two-thirds crystalline silicon split.  

• Domestic manufacturing capacity of thin-film solar modules was able to satisfy the bulk of installation demand in 2025 with the remainder being filled by Indian and Southeast Asian imports. 

• American c-Si module manufacturing capacity in 2025 was able to satisfy greater than half of installation demand. Southeast Asian imports supplied most of the demand unmet by domestic capacity. 

• Nascent U.S. cell manufacturing is estimated to have satisfied about 1% of manufacturing demand in 2025, with Southeast Asia (SEA) and Korea counting as the largest cell suppliers to the growing domestic module manufacturing demand. Domestic cell manufacturing would present a major value contribution to module manufacturing and is set to rapidly scale. 

• While domestic ingot and wafer capabilities are growing, U.S. cell manufacturers will require wafer imports in the near term until domestic capabilities increase. The majority of wafer imports in 2025 were sourced from Southeast Asia. 

• Solar inverters are sourced globally, with the most substantial volume coming from Southeast Asia, the EU and Japan. It is estimated that over one-sixth of solar inverters were sourced domestically in 2025. Developers are actively seeking to increase the percentage of domestic inverters in 2026 and beyond.

Access the full report here