US Solar Manufacturers Write To Biden

• SEMA Coalition of US solar manufacturers have written to Joe Biden to clear the SEMA Act
• It will pave the way for the country to meet the 30 GW projected annual solar deployment by 2025
• Along with creating several jobs, the act and other incentives for local PV manufacturing industries will position the US to enable its allies to expand solar deployment as well, as per the coalition

Solar PV manufacturers in the US are building pressure on President Joe Biden to pass the Solar Energy Manufacturing for America Act (SEMA) which is aimed at contributing to a domestic solar module production capacity in the country sufficient to meet the 30 GW projected annual deployment by 2025.

The passage of this act along with other deployment incentives can create 18,000 direct manufacturing jobs and more than 60,000 indirect jobs, claims the Solar Energy Manufacturing for America Coalition in a letter to the President on behalf of 16 local manufacturers.

In addition, the coalition believes an 'entirely domestic solar manufacturing supply chain capable of exceeding domestic demand with nearly 100% American panels' will result into some 30,000 direct manufacturing jobs and more than 100,000 indirect jobs by 2030 throughout the solar supply chain.

"The fact is, the industry is entering a critical inflection point – one that could result in the United States creating thousands of jobs and reshoring the entire solar supply chain – or losing the domestic solar manufacturing industry forever," reads the letter. "As solar is poised to be the world's leading source of energy by 2040, the US cannot remain reliant on overseas solar supply chains, nor can we assume those monopolized supply chains will continue to keep prices low."

Hence it stresses that the SEMA act will enhance competition throughout the solar supply chain leading to cost savings in solar deployment while contributing to the national energy goals.

With a robust local solar manufacturing supply chain, the US will be able to rapidly increase not only its own installations, but also enable its allies around the world to do the same, states the coalition that counts among its members First Solar, Meyer Burger Americas, Maxeon Solar Technologies, Hanwha Q Cells North America, Silfab Solar, Wacker Polysilicon North America, REC Silicon, CubicPV.

Auxin Solar, the company that has filed an anti-circumvention petition against Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and Cambodia, is also one of the signatories to the letter (see Another Solar Tariff Petition In US).

The SEMA Act was introduced by Democratic Party Senator Jon Ossoff recommending tax credits for local producers at every stage of the supply chain, following which the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) set a 50 GW annual domestic production capacity by 2030 (see US Senator Wants Tax Credit For Local Manufacturers).

Recently, the US Department of Energy (DOE) batted for incentives too saying financial support to local producers of PV technology can help offset 30% to 40% of higher cost of domestic solar production as part of its deep-dive assessment of clean energy manufacturing supply chains in the country (see DOE: Incentivize US PV Manufacturing).