American Made Solar Panels: Who are the Top ...

At EnergySage, we&#;ve rated thousands of solar panels made by dozens of manufacturers based on efficiency, power output, warranty, and other important specs that allow each panel to make the most possible electricity over the longest period.

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And if you're looking to support American workers and energy independence, there are plenty of U.S.-made solar panels available.

In fact, some of these panels (and the inverters they connect to) are among the top-rated, most popular solar equipment on the EnergySage Marketplace.

First Solar 

Ohio-based First Solar is the largest manufacturer of solar panels in the U.S., producing about 50% more panels than the next-biggest American-made brand. The company mainly produces panels for commercial or industrial-scale installations, which means the individual panels are less efficient than those typically used on residential rooftops, where the goal is to place as much capacity as possible in the limited available space.

Qcells

Qcells is the second-largest manufacturer of solar panels in the U.S., the second most-popular brand on the EnergySage marketplace, and one of the most popular residential solar panel manufacturers, American-made or otherwise. 

While Qcells is based in South Korea, the company recently opened a solar panel manufacturing plant in Georgia. Although not all of their panels are American-made (at least, not yet), you&#;ll still be supporting American manufacturing by choosing Qcells.

Other notable names in American solar manufacturing include Solar4America, Silfab Solar, Heliene, Jinko Solar, and Mission Solar.

Here's the full list, according to the DOE, as of July :

It&#;s worth pointing out that none of the American-made solar panels have cracked the very top tier of our performance rankings (those honors belong to Maxeon, REC, and Panasonic, each of which builds their panels in other countries). 

But U.S.-made panels such as Qcells and Canadian Solar, are ranked close behind. Sometimes, as with QCells, U.S. panels cost less to install, which can mean a faster payback period on your investment &#; even if the long-term energy production over multiple decades might not be quite as robust.

Looking at the broader supply chain for solar components, there are 52 companies that manufacture those products in the U.S., according to the DOE. These components include inverters, controllers, racking systems, and more. Another 12 U.S. outfits can recycle old solar equipment.

One of the most notable companies here is Enphase, whose IQ series microinverters and controllers are wildly popular on the EnergySage Marketplace. About 74% of solar quotes on EnergySage in the first half of included Enphase microinverters &#; more than four times the number of the next-biggest inverter brand, Tesla. Enphase&#;s manufacturing is contracted out to third-party factories in Wisconsin (Foxconn) and South Carolina (Flex), according to the DOE.

All that said, the bulk of panels and components are not built in America. Even though the American-made panels listed above are assembled here, many of the components still come from abroad.

Four of the biggest manufacturers are headquartered in China and primarily manufacture equipment there (though one of them, Jinko Solar, does have an American manufacturing facility in Florida). The fifth largest manufacturer is a Canadian company, Canadian Solar, which also has a manufacturing facility in Texas.

But, expect more American-manufactured solar soon

More American solar manufacturing could be coming following incentives and investments earmarked in the Inflation Reduction Act of . In fact, some of the biggest brands have already shifted some manufacturing efforts stateside: Canadian Solar opened a factory in Texas in , and Trina Solar recently signed a lease for its first U.S. solar manufacturing facility, which will be located near Dallas.

Nine out of the top 12 manufacturers in Wood Mackenzie&#;s new global solar PV module manufacturer rankings are Chinese companies, according to a report published today, where both fifth and tenth place were awarded to two companies each due to close scores.

Wood Mackenzie&#;s unique scoring methodology evaluated more than 30 solar PV module manufacturers. The ranking examines nine different criteria, including module manufacturing experience, vertical integration, financial performance, capacity utilisation, and more.

Top 10 solar PV module manufacturer ranking in :

Rank

Manufacturer

Final score out of 100

1

JA Solar

82.9

2

Trina Solar

81.7

3

Jinko Solar

80.8

4

Canadian Solar

78.5

5

LONGi Green Energy

78.0

5

Risen New Energy

78.0

6

TW Solar (Tongwei)

77.6

7

Astronergy

76.3

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8

Hanwha Q-cells

75.8

9

DMEGC Solar

74.1

10

Elite Solar

71.4

10

Boviet Solar

71.2

Source: Wood Mackenzie.

Note: Both 5th place and 10th place were awarded to two companies each due to close scores. Companies with scores within 0.3 of each other were given the same rank.

Eight out of the 12 ranked module manufacturers are self-sufficient in cell capacity, stated the report. Tongwei and Risen are the only manufacturers in the ranking that are fully vertically integrated through the whole supply chain from polysilicon to module.

According to the report, seven out of the 12 ranked manufacturers are each expected to exceed 100 GW of module production capacity by . The total capacity of wafers and cells of the top 10 ranked companies is expected to reach 830 GW in the next three years&#;, which is enough to satisfy global demand twice.

In terms of capacity and growth rate, 10 out of the 12 manufacturers had over 100% growth in the past four years, stated the report.

Top 10 ranked manufacturers&#; module capacity compared to total global capacity and global installation rate, -: &#;

The report found that the top 10 ranked manufacturers continue to expand despite the oversupply of manufacturing capacity. At the same time, manufacturers are focused on becoming more vertically integrated.&#;

The top-ranked manufacturers have several strengths in common, &#;including more than 10 years of module manufacturing experience, vertical integration, and high capacity utilisation&#;.

&#;Our new module manufacturer ranking comes at an optimal time in the evolution of the solar PV supply chain. Manufacturing capacity across the global solar value chain has expanded dramatically, as we&#;ve reported for over a year,&#; said Yana Hryshko, head of solar supply chain at Wood Mackenzie and lead author of the report.

Hryshko added: &#;Our ranking reflects a comprehensive summary of the most important criteria that buyers care about when purchasing solar PV modules. The scoring criteria focuses on the items that buyers ask about most frequently in their requests for quotations or requests for proposals.&#;

ENDS

Notes to Editors

• Wood Mackenzie has released the ranking and scores for the top 10 ranked module manufacturers, but over 20 additional manufacturers are included in the full ranking.
• The ranking is based on vendor surveys, public filings, proprietary databases, and multiple conversations with manufacturers.
• The nine scoring criteria and their weighting:

Criteria

Scoring weight

Module manufacturing experience

15%

Manufacturing capacity and growth rate

5%

Vertical integration

15%

Capacity utilization

15%

Technology maturity

15%

Research and development

5%

Financial conditions

5%

Adherence to ESG and CSR

10%

Availability of 3rd party certification

15%

• The full results of the ranking and analysis of key trends is available in the associated research report.

WoodMac at SNEC  

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