With each passing day, it seems that renewable energy gets more attention as more and more people realize what scientists have been saying for decades: non-renewable energy is causing us some problems.
American companies jumped into the solar panel manufacturing game decades ago, and since then, quite a few other countries have begun production. The result of all the competition and research has been increased efficiency, better and less expensive solar panels, and a rise to power of the Chinese solar power industry.
Finding solar panels built in America can be problematic due to global manufacturers and free trade with the US. This article will give you a list of the top 13 American solar panel companies, but you also have the option of consulting in person with a solar power company in your area and inquiring directly with them. They want to make a sale, so they’ll be more than glad to speak with you about your options and help educate you on American solar panels.
Headquartered in Tempe, Arizona, First Solar builds its panels in Malaysia, Vietnam, and the United States. The company prides itself on the efficiency of its photovoltaic (PV) units with an employee workforce of 6,400 people. First Solar posted a 2018 revenue of $2.2 billion.
The company boasts that its technology displaces about 90% of greenhouse gases when used instead of non-renewable energy sources, meaning that First Solar’s carbon footprint is tiny.
As a subsidiary of LG Electronics, LG Solar produces solar panels manufactured in South Korea and Huntsville, Alabama. Parent company LG Electronics calls Lincolnshire, Ill. home and has spearheaded LG Solar’s recent rollout of its next generation of solar panels.
LG Solar currently offers five different types of solar panels, a succession of lines that have evolved over the 30 years in the solar power business. LG’s panels carry a 25-year warranty.
Led by the mercurial Elon Musk, Tesla builds its solar panels in Buffalo, NY. The company is based in Freemont, California, but its manufacturing facilities reside on the east coast.
Its partnership with Panasonic involved building solar cells for Tesla, but that arrangement has changed. Now, Panasonic’s role with Tesla revolves around batteries and other power storage solutions in production in Nevada.
The star of the Tesla solar lineup is the solar roof, a system in which the entire roof gets topped with, instead of shingles, small solar tiles. The idea is to harness the roof’s total surface area without building additional fixtures on top of a roof. Instead, the solar structures are the roof.
Hanwha Q Cells began in Germany at the end of the 20th century. The Hanwha Group out of South Korea purchased the company in 2012, and it is technically now a South Korean company. Offices still exist in Germany, prompting the company to brand itself “engineered in Germany.”
Q Cell solar cells currently hold the world record (set in 2011) for the highest efficiency at 19.5%. Hanwha facilities can be found in South Korea, Malaysia, China, and the United States.
Panasonic’s solar panel business is in a state of flux. The company announced in mid-2021 that they’d be withdrawing from that marketplace by the second quarter of 2022.
Before this change, panel manufacturing plants ran in Japan and Malaysia. The Japanese-based company built solar energy components at Tesla’s Gigafactory in New Jersey but ended that partnership in 2020. The Malaysian plant will close in early 2022.
Shanghai, China, serves as the home to Jinko Solar. The company’s panels are built at factories in Florida and Malaysia. Jinko Solar continually ranked as one of the world’s best solar panel manufacturers, although that may change in the future due to factors most likely out of its control.
The United States government blocked the import of silicon-based products from Hoshine Silicon. The order stems from accusations that Hoshine profits from forced labor on the part of Uyghurs, a persecuted ethnic minority in China.
While Hoshine Silicon is not a subsidiary of Jinko Solar, its silicon products figure largely in Jinko Solar’s panels, meaning that production may lag without another source for those materials.
Mission Solar calls San Antonio, Texas home, and from there, they design and build their solar panels. This makes the company compliant with the Buy American Act, its website proudly announces.
Degradation of solar cells within each panel is unavoidable. Mission Solar has worked this into its 25-year warranty, guaranteeing no more than a 0.7% decrease in a panel’s output over one year.
If this rate holds, the warranty (well, and the math) promises that after 25 years of use, a Mission Solar panel will still be operating at slightly more than 80% of its capacity.
Seraphim was founded in 2011 in Changzhou, China. It had spread out globally in less than a decade and now boasts offices on every continent save Antarctica. Currently, it builds the bulk of its solar panels in China with smaller plants in Vietnam and South Africa.
Currently, no Seraphim panel manufacturing plants exist in the United States. In 2015, an American company set out to build Seraphim products in Mississippi and alleged building 160 MW worth of panels annually by 2018.
About American owned solar companies
As the photovoltaic (PV) industry continues to evolve, advancements in American owned solar companies have become critical to optimizing the utilization of renewable energy sources. From innovative battery technologies to intelligent energy management systems, these solutions are transforming the way we store and distribute solar-generated electricity.
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By interacting with our online customer service, you'll gain a deep understanding of the various American owned solar companies featured in our extensive catalog, such as high-efficiency storage batteries and intelligent energy management systems, and how they work together to provide a stable and reliable power supply for your PV projects.
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