China's photovoltaic giant Longi Green Energy plans to build a factory in the United States. Is the trend of setting up factories in the US heating up?

Abstract: Chinese PV module giant Longi Green Energy plans to build a factory in Ohio, USA, attracting market attention. This is Longi's first time building a factory in the United States. If the project is completed as scheduled, it will be a large factory with a capacity of up to 5 GW, equivalent to nearly 50% of the total installed capacity of solar power in the US public utility sector last year. This move has sparked imagination about the expansion of the Chinese PV industry into overseas markets. At the same time, it is related to the Biden administration's push for the reshoring of manufacturing, as there is a huge gap between the local PV manufacturing capabilities in the US and China. Although the US is the world's second-largest PV market, its local PV supply chain and manufacturing capabilities are lacking and rely on imports. Can Longi's move to build a factory in the US change the direction of the industry and bring more opportunities to the Chinese PV industry?

Recently, Chinese photovoltaic component giant Longi Green Energy announced plans to build a solar factory in Pataskala, Ohio in the United States. The factory is expected to break ground in April 2023, and if completed on schedule, it will set a new capacity record of 5GW of component capacity, equivalent to nearly 50% of last year's total installed solar capacity for public utilities in the United States, providing electricity to nearly 1 million American households. This is Longi Green Energy's first factory in the United States, and it has attracted attention from the market.

As the world's largest producer of silicon wafers and solar modules, Longi Green Energy has a global strategy to expand its sales channels in overseas markets. Longi's silicon wafers, solar cells, and modules are exported to countries such as Japan, Australia, India, Germany, Spain, and of course, the United States.

Recently, news has emerged in the market about Chinese photovoltaic companies building factories in the United States. For example, JA Solar announced a $60 million investment to establish the largest 2GW module manufacturing plant in Phoenix, USA. Meanwhile, Longi Green Energy also plans to build a joint venture factory in Ohio, USA with a capacity of 1 GW and 1,000 employees, although the official response to this news has not yet been given

Currently, most of the new investments in the US photovoltaic manufacturing industry come from local companies and some Asian and European manufacturers, while most Chinese photovoltaic companies still maintain a wait-and-see attitude towards investing in the United States due to concerns about policy uncertainties and geopolitical risks. However, with the launch of a new round of investment in the US photovoltaic industry and the news of Longi's move to build a factory in the United States, whether this photovoltaic giant's cooperation with the United States can change the direction of the photovoltaic industry and bring more imagination space for China's photovoltaic industry to expand into overseas markets has become a focus of industry attention.

Article source: Huxiu.com