Solar manufacturing challenge

The generous subsidies being offered by many countries for local manufacturing along the solar value chain may not quite lead to the expected outcome. In the US, for instance, incentives only partly offset higher production costs.
 

“Best-in-class modules from Southeast Asia will soon be irresistibly cheap for US developers. Only a handful of suppliers may end up making modules in the US as more factory plans are scrapped,” said Pol Lezcano, BloombergNEF’s lead US solar analyst.

Local manufacturing is being pushed through a combination of incentives for manufacturing and disincentives for imports. If the import price is low enough even