- AES, Clearway, CCR and DESRI have formed a group calling themselves the US Solar Buyer Consortium
- They are seeking proposals from domestic solar manufacturers in the US to supply up to 7 GW modules annually, beginning from 2024
- The deal for crystalline silicon solar modules will be worth more than $6 billion and will help scale up local solar manufacturing
Newly launched US Solar Buyer Consortium of the AES Corporation, Clearway Energy Group, Cypress Creek Renewables (CCR) and DE Shaw Renewable Investments (DESRI) are looking for local manufacturers to supply up to 7 GW solar modules annually, starting from 2024.
Through this consortium and the request for proposals (RFP), the 4 companies aim to encourage rapid scaling up of and ensure stable domestic solar manufacturing in the US. They want to purchase this capacity of crystalline silicon solar modules worth over $6 billion.
Local US manufacturers who can deliver up to 7 GW of solar modules annually from 2024 onwards, can respond to the RFP.
DESRI’s CEO David Zwillinger explained, “Our joint commitment to procure at this scale can provide the certainty suppliers need to ramp up capacity and overcome current supply chain constraints.”
Last date of response submission was not revealed. For more details, interested companies are advised to write to the consortium directly at [email protected].
“The consortium has a large and growing pipeline of solar projects in the United States, and we are committed to supporting America’s clean energy transition,” said AES President and CEO Andrés Gluski. “We’re working together with customers of all kinds to decarbonize their operations and the grid.”
While CCR touts a 14 GW pipeline of solar projects in the US, DESRI counts its operational and under construction wind and solar projects representing more than 6 GW aggregate capacity.
AES says it has a large backlog of solar projects in the country including 3.4 GW that’s set to come online between 2022 and 2025, out of 10.3 GW of backlog it has across the globe. It also claims to have a 59 GW development pipeline across technologies out of which 68% is in the US.
The move from the 4 leading companies comes soon after the US President provided a bridge of 24 months for anti-circumvention tariffs to be imposed on Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia and Thailand, buying time for his country to speed up its solar deployment and also scale up local manufacturing (see Biden Saves The Day For US Solar Industry).
According to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), the US has approximately 7 GW of local solar panel assembly capacity hence the dependence on imports. Even though it has enough polysilicon to produce more than 20 GW solar modules, there is no active domestic production of ingots, wafers or cells. The association has called for a 50 GW annual domestic production target for the country by 2030 (see US Senator Wants Tax Credit For Local Manufacturers).
