The Case for US-based Solar in times of Tradewar
Solar has gained popularity and momentum in the last decade, in fact, one could even argue it is becoming a disruptive innovation for the energy industry by pushing for greater distributed generation. This is uncommon for the energy industry as it has traditionally been very slow for adapting to innovations or change. As one of the core gears of any nation, this industry has always been a hot topic for politicians and one which has traditionally followed policy trends. Solar is thus a child of the era of globalization and worldwide cooperation, which has recently faced much opposition from western political trends. The case for solar is not simple though because people in western countries still want it and would like to see an increase in distributed generation, however, they want it to be manufactured locally and currently most of it comes from Asia.
Most module and cell manufacturing companies are located in China, which is the last part of the supply chain while the ingots and wafers, which are the beginning of the first part of the supply chain are heavily manufactured in the United States and Europe (1). China managed to get the lead in cell and module manufactured with the initial help of the Central government, and clever business decisions later on by Chinese companies. Even though government financial support is important for launching solar, and any…
