Until recently, the majority of photovoltaic solar panels sold in the United States weren&#;t actually made here. However, events of the past several years have resulted in the expansion of some U.S.-based manufacturers and the building of new U.S. facilities by large Asian solar companies.
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Steep tariffs on foreign-made solar materials imposed in and (which were extended in and expanded in ) kept inexpensive Chinese solar panels on a roughly even playing field with American products. Now, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) has turbo-charged the U.S. solar manufacturing sector. Several gigawatts of new solar production capacity will be built in the country over the next several years.
By volume, the current top 5 solar panel manufacturers in the United States are:
First Solar
Qcells
Silfab
Jinko Solar
Mission Solar
American-made solar panels may not always come from American companies, but they are built by American workers. Here&#;s more information about five of the biggest, best companies that make solar panels in the USA.
Company
USA location(s)
Current USA manufacturing capacity
Top-performing solar panel
First Solar
Ohio, Alabama
2.4 GW
Series 7 TR1
Qcells
Georgia
1.7 GW
Q. PEAK DUO BLK ML-G10+
Silfab Solar
Washington
800 MW
Elite SIL-380
Jinko Solar
Florida
400 MW
EAGLE 72HM G5b
Mission Solar
Texas
300 MW
MSE PERC 66
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Find out what a solar installation would cost based on recent installations in your zip codeCurrently the largest manufacturer of solar modules in the United States, First Solar mostly makes CdTe thin-film products aimed at the utility-scale solar sector. FirstSolar is famous for its commitment to recycling its old products and for booking orders of well over ten times its annual production capacity.
First Solar is working on expanding its already large facilities in Ohio and is also building a new plant in Alabama.
Qcells (formerly Hanwha Q CELLS), which was founded in , is a subsidiary of South Korea-based Hanwha Solutions with a regional headquarters office in Irvine, California. It currently supplies more residential solar panels in the U.S. than any other company.
The Tier 1 company currently operates a 1.7 gigawatt (GW) solar panel manufacturing plant in Dalton, Georgia, that began production in February . In and , the company announced an investment of $2.5 billion in plans to expand its solar business in a multitude of ways. The end goal of that expansion is to create a fully domestic solar supply chain, from raw poly-silicon production to the manufacturing of solar silicon wafers, solar cells, and finally, modules.
Based on the quality and value of its high-performance mono PERC solar panels and its commitment to the U.S. market, Qcells leads the SolarReviews rankings of the top 10 solar panel manufacturers for the residential market.
Silfab Solar is a privately-held solar company based in Ontario, but the company actually has more employees in the United States. In the U.S., the company manufactures solar panels at two facilities in Washington with a combined manufacturing capacity of 800 megawatts (MW).
In , Silfab introduced its latest Elite series solar panel, which uses an innovative conductive backsheet to channel power from the solar cells, rather than wire busbars that can reduce power output. The company also announced plans to begin manufacturing its own solar cells in a new facility nearing completion in South Carolina.
In response to tariffs filed under President Trump, Shanghai-based Jinko Solar opened a 400-MW solar panel manufacturing plant in Jacksonville, Florida, in . The Florida plant is important to serve the U.S. market but represents a small portion of the company&#;s 70+ GW worldwide manufacturing capacity.
Jinko has yet to announce plans to expand its manufacturing base in the United States. Still, the company may be inspired to do so in the near future, as its Chinese rival LONGi has announced plans to build a 5 GW solar module factory in Ohio.
Mission Solar has been manufacturing solar panels in San Antonio, Texas, since . A subsidiary of a Korean company called OCI, Mission now assembles 300 MW of solar panels each year. By its 10-year anniversary in , it plans to have expanded to 1 GW of annual manufacturing capacity in Texas.
Mission&#;s current products utilize p-type monocrystalline PERC solar cells. These products offer acceptable performance and are certified to standard regulations for reliability. Still, they don&#;t rise to the levels of efficiency seen among their competitors' products, and the company hasn't yet adopted newer technologies like half-cut solar cells and cell shingling that offer increased efficiency in the same area.
In August , Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act, which introduced the Section 45X Advanced Manufacturing Production Tax Credit (45X MPTC) and expanded the Section 48C Advanced Energy Project Investment Tax Credit (48C ITC). These programs provide economic incentives to manufacture solar materials in the United States.
The 45X MPTC provides tax credits to manufacturers that make clean energy components like solar panels, and the 48C ITC provides tax credits for the purchase and commissioning of property that will be used for manufacturing. Manufacturers of solar components can choose to receive tax credits under one&#;but not both&#;of these programs.
In addition to the manufacturing tax credits, the IRA included a 10% bonus investment tax credit under section 48D for installations that use &#;domestic content.&#; This provides additional demand from solar installers for products made by U.S. companies.
Since the passage of the ITC, several solar companies have announced plans to expand or build new facilities in the United States. In addition to the announcements from First Solar, Qcells, LONGi, and Silfab covered in the sections above, companies like REC Silicon, JA Solar, and Hounen have also announced major U.S. manufacturing facilities.
One American company, SEG Solar, opened a 2-gigawatt manufacturing facility in Houston Texas in August of .
Due to the IRA and some forward-thinking companies, the future of American solar manufacturing is bright.
As homeowners shop for solar, they are nearly as likely to be offered American-made panels than products from anywhere else. Soon, so many solar panels will be made in the U.S. that it may become uncommon to see imported products on the market.
At EnergySage, we&#;ve rated thousands of solar panels made by dozens of manufacturers based on efficiency, power output, warranty, and other important specs that allow each panel to make the most possible electricity over the longest period.
And if you're looking to support American workers and energy independence, there are plenty of U.S.-made solar panels available.
In fact, some of these panels (and the inverters they connect to) are among the top-rated, most popular solar equipment on the EnergySage Marketplace.
Ohio-based First Solar is the largest manufacturer of solar panels in the U.S., producing about 50% more panels than the next-biggest American-made brand. The company mainly produces panels for commercial or industrial-scale installations, which means the individual panels are less efficient than those typically used on residential rooftops, where the goal is to place as much capacity as possible in the limited available space.
Qcells is the second-largest manufacturer of solar panels in the U.S., the second most-popular brand on the EnergySage marketplace, and one of the most popular residential solar panel manufacturers, American-made or otherwise.
While Qcells is based in South Korea, the company recently opened a solar panel manufacturing plant in Georgia. Although not all of their panels are American-made (at least, not yet), you&#;ll still be supporting American manufacturing by choosing Qcells.
Other notable names in American solar manufacturing include Solar4America, Silfab Solar, Heliene, Jinko Solar, and Mission Solar.
Here's the full list, according to the DOE, as of July :
It&#;s worth pointing out that none of the American-made solar panels have cracked the very top tier of our performance rankings (those honors belong to Maxeon, REC, and Panasonic, each of which builds their panels in other countries).
But U.S.-made panels such as Qcells and Canadian Solar, are ranked close behind. Sometimes, as with QCells, U.S. panels cost less to install, which can mean a faster payback period on your investment &#; even if the long-term energy production over multiple decades might not be quite as robust.
Looking at the broader supply chain for solar components, there are 52 companies that manufacture those products in the U.S., according to the DOE. These components include inverters, controllers, racking systems, and more. Another 12 U.S. outfits can recycle old solar equipment.
One of the most notable companies here is Enphase, whose IQ series microinverters and controllers are wildly popular on the EnergySage Marketplace. About 74% of solar quotes on EnergySage in the first half of included Enphase microinverters &#; more than four times the number of the next-biggest inverter brand, Tesla. Enphase&#;s manufacturing is contracted out to third-party factories in Wisconsin (Foxconn) and South Carolina (Flex), according to the DOE.
All that said, the bulk of panels and components are not built in America. Even though the American-made panels listed above are assembled here, many of the components still come from abroad.
Four of the biggest manufacturers are headquartered in China and primarily manufacture equipment there (though one of them, Jinko Solar, does have an American manufacturing facility in Florida). The fifth largest manufacturer is a Canadian company, Canadian Solar, which also has a manufacturing facility in Texas.
More American solar manufacturing could be coming following incentives and investments earmarked in the Inflation Reduction Act of . In fact, some of the biggest brands have already shifted some manufacturing efforts stateside: Canadian Solar opened a factory in Texas in , and Trina Solar recently signed a lease for its first U.S. solar manufacturing facility, which will be located near Dallas.
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