AI Summary
5 min readShayle Kann hosts Scott Moskowitz, VP of market strategy at Q Cells and chair of the Solar Energy Industries Association, to assess the state of US solar manufacturing. Despite policy headwinds like IRA changes, solar demand surges from data centers and load growth, prompting questions about domestic supply chain resilience.
Solar Supply Chain Stages
Crystalline silicon solar modules follow a sequence: polysilicon production, wafer slicing, cell fabrication, and module assembly. Pre-Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), US capacity concentrated at the ends—polysilicon (10-20 GW from REC Silicon, Hemlock, Wacker) and modules (now exceeding 40-50 GW annual demand). Polysilicon favors US sites with cheap electricity like Washington state's hydro or Michigan's nuclear and gas. Modules, being bulky, incur high shipping costs, making assembly economic even pre-IRA via trade protections.
Wafers and cells lagged, with near-zero US production; 99% of wafers came from China or Southeast Asia. Post-IRA, investments emerged: more cell lines than wafers, but wafers remain limited to startups like Q Cells and Hemlock-Corning. A typical pre-IRA flow shipped US or German polysilicon to Asia for wafers/cells, then back for module assembly.
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What you'll learn
- 1 (00:00) **🎙️ Introduction: Scott Moskowitz**
- 2 (04:17) **Why Build a Domestic Solar Supply Chain**
- 3 (06:33) **Policy Drivers of US Reshoring**
- 4 (07:18) **Current State of US Solar Supply Chain**
- 5 (10:34) **Why Polysilicon and Modules Domesticated First**
- 6 (12:14) **Cost Competitiveness vs. China**
- 7 (16:20) **Challenges in Building Clusters and First-of-a-Kind Factories**
+ Full timestamped outline available in the app
Show Notes
Despite the dark cloud of federal policy hanging over the solar industry, skyrocketing load growth is driving demand. The question is whether supply can keep up.
In this episode, Shayle talks to Scott Moskowitz — VP of market strategy and public affairs at Qcells and board chair of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) — about the challenges of reshoring solar in the U.S.
They cover topics like:
- How supply chain resilience incentivize reshoring efforts
- The specific state of polysilicon, wafers, cells, and module reshoring
- Why resource “clustering” has been a boon for Chinese solar manufacturing
- Industry challenges around permitting solar
- Why American solar remains so much more expensive per watt than Chinese solar
- The threat of technological obsolescence to funding solar projects
Resources
- Catalyst: More 2026 trends: Solar costs, oil oversupply, and the startup slump
- Catalyst: Tumult in residential solar
- Open Circuit: Does residential solar have a bad product?
- Latitude Media: GlassPoint is back, and armed with global expansion plans
- Latitude Media: Tesla’s rooftop solar paradox
- Latitude Media: Can the US bring solar installation to below $2 per watt?
Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Max Savage Levenson. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor.
Catalyst is brought to you by Uplight. Uplight activates energy customers and their connected devices to generate, shift, and save energy—improving grid resilience and energy affordability while accelerating decarbonization. Learn how Uplight is helping utilities unlock flexible load at scale at uplight.com.
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