Suniva is investing $350M in a 4.5-GW solar cell manufacturing facility in South Carolina. (Utility Dive)
The context: The US solar cell maker went bankrupt in 2017, citing Chinese dumping. Now, the SC plant is slated to come online in Q2 2027, pushing Suniva's total domestic capacity >5.5 GW. This will make it the largest merchant solar cell manufacturer in the US, the company claims.
Why it matters: Cells, wafers, ingots, and polysilicon remain the import-reliant pieces of the domestic solar stack, even as module production has grown 7X to 56.5 GW since 2022. The factors boosting the value of reshoring? 1) AI-driven power demand 2) stricter tax-credit qualification rules and 3) trade enforcement, according to Deloitte's Keith Adams.