Building a U.S. Solar Supply Chain

"Between 2008 and 2013, China's fledgling solar-electric panel industry dropped world prices by 80 percent, a stunning achievement in a fiercely competitive high-tech market." - John Fialka, Scientific American In March, Corning, Suniva, and Heliene announced a partnership that will allow them to build a U.S. supply chain for solar panels, from polysilicon to wafers to cells to panels. In a global solar industry worth $100 Billion, the opportunity is massive, but so is the risk. The path to the present moment is littered with companies who failed operationally or found themselves tangled up in controversy because they were trying to compete with China on cost. With a history of tariffs, concerns about forced labor, and imbalances between supply and demand, the solar supply chain offers many lessons for other manufacturers looking to reshore. In this episode of Art of Supply, Kelly Barner examines: Unique challenges facing the solar supply chain and how they ironically created an additional incentive for this partnership Why it is essential that more than just final assembly take place in the United States The role of government incentives and regulations in making this possible  Links: Kelly Barner on LinkedIn Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter  Art of Supply on AOP Subscribe to This Week in Procurement