Much seems to happening in the United States (US) when it comes to the addition and expansion of solar projects in the region. As per the latest forecast from the International Energy Agency (IEA), the US is likely to add 340 GW of renewable energy capacities over 2023-2028.
The forecast from the IEA claims that globally China will remain the leader in its capacity additions of renewables during the period. However, besides China, the European Union and the United States (US) would see the highest additions of clean power.
Experts have often attributed a spike in renewable energy additions in the western country and the increased presence of solar energy companies from other countries to the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). With the US legislation putting a curb on the importers of solar modules from China, vaults have now opened for several other countries beyond China who are leaders in solar module manufacturing.
As per Global Energy Monitor (GEM), less than 40 countries globally can manufacture solar modules. Besides, China, several other Southeast countries have now excelled in the advanced technology which can accelerate the expansion of clean power globally. A number of solar module manufacturing firms have also started opening their own solar module manufacturing plants in the US to take advantage of the provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act of the US.
For example Indian Solar module manufacturers Waaree Solar and Vikram Solar have already announced opening solar module manufacturing plants in the region. In this report, we tried to find out the top five countries that have the highest share of exports of solar modules to the country.
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Vietnam
Vietnam has emerged as one of the emerging countries from the Southeast Asian region to export solar modules made in their country to the US. It is among the largest exporters of solar modules to the US. Several of their firms have plans to expand. For example, the local Sunova Solar Technology in Vietnam exports its solar modules to the US market. It had also announced the opening a solar module manufacturing center in the US in 2024. On the other hand other manufacturers like AD Green also commissioned its dedicated 3GW of solar module manufacturing factory that could be used to export solar modules to the US. The higher exports from Vietnam to US have become possible due to the tariff exemption it enjoys while exporting its module to the US.
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Malaysia
Malaysia is another country from the Southeast Asian region which has emerged as one of tbe leading exports of solar module manufacturers to the US. Like Vietnam, Malaysia also enjoys special tariff discounts from the US which propelled its exports of solar modules to the country. The quarterly reports from NREL claimed that Malaysia remained one of the most sought-after countries for the US to import solar modules into the US.
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Thailand
Buoyed by the tariff exemption from the US for two years and a boost in domestic solar module manufacturing, Thailand also emerged as one of the prime exports of solar modules to the US, a report from the NREL hinted. US remained the leading spot globally for the country for the export of solar panels.
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Cambodia
Cambodia is another country from Southeast Asia that is among the leaders in exporting solar panels to the US. Besides the tax holidays it enjoys, it cleantech firms have also considered investing specifically to the US. Last year New East Solar Energy, a Cambodian solar manufacturing firm announced the opening of a 2 GW solar panel factory in Arizona.
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India
India, which has seen a rise in its local domestic capacity of solar modules and a steady rise in the production of solar cells has also targeted the US market which can counter the expansion of Chinese modules to the US from the country.
Several Indian solar module manufacturers have eyed the US as a lucrative market to sell their solar modules. Indian solar companies like Vikram Solar and Waaree have already planned to open their factories in the US to get the benefits of the IRA of the US. On the other hand, several Indian solar panel makers prefer to export to the US market to fetch a better price compared to the rates they get from the domestic market.
