US Solar Cell Manufacturing Grows Despite Cloudy Days Ahead
The US doubled its solar cell manufacturing capacity and added 8.6 gigawatts in the first quarter of 2025, marking the third largest quarter for new solar manufacturing capacity on record.
According to a report recently issued by Wood McKinsey for the Solar Energy Industries Association(SEIA), new solar generating capacity totaled 10.8 gigawatts. That's 7 percent lower than installations for the first quarter in 2024, 43 percent lower than installations for the fourth quarter of last year. It's still the fourth largest quarter of deployment on record according to the same report.
The top five states for solar growth this quarter include Texas, Florida, Indiana, Ohio, and Wisconsin.
Despite growing demand for energy, the solar industry faces a rocky road over the next few years, particularly if the Senate concurs with the renewable energy tax credit cuts that have already been passed by the House.
Cutting the tax credits could trigger widespread project cancellations and a possible energy shortage according to a spokesperson for SEIA.
Deep Dive Into PV Hardware.
The Renewable Energy Test Center (RETC) has released its 2025 PV module index report, evaluating the reliability, quality, and performance of top solar panel manufacturers.
Solar modules are put through a variety of stress tests to evaluate a number of parameters.
These include durability, resistance to ultraviolet light, damp heat test, hail durability, potential induced degradation, (PID), static and dynamic mechanical load testing, and ultraviolet induced degradation.
The performance tests cover module efficiency, induced angle modifier, how well they do at lower angles of sunlight, light induced degradation, and the temperature coefficient.
Cyber Vulnerability Disclosed in FORESCOUT Report
Nearly 35,000 solar powered devices are remotely manageable and openly accessible to anyone from anywhere in the world, according to a new report from industrial cybersecurity firm, FORESCOUT.
These exposed devices are made by 42 different companies and they include equipment that is essential for operating solar power energy infrastructure.
Some of the management interfaces may include password protection, but FORESCOUT says that virtually none of them really need to be online and that any exception should be placed behind a firewall.
The 10 vendors with the greatest number of exposed devices have each publicly already disclosed vulnerabilities over the past decade. which actually increases their risk of being hacked.
SMAs Sunny Webbox, a device that collects and reports information about the performance of solar inverters, was the most commonly observed piece of equipment left remotely accessible, and this was followed by Fronius International inverters.
Production of the Sunny Webbox was discontinued in 2015. However, there are still thousands of them operational in the field.
Big Beautiful Bill is a Bust for Ohio Electrical Workers
Ohio's electrical workers are speaking out this week in defense of clean energy jobs, as federal tax credit cuts and local politics threaten to derail a number of major solar investments across the state.
In a new ad campaign launched jointly by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the NRDC Action Fund, Union electricians are urging Ohio Senators to protect the inflation reduction axe clean energy tax credits. Their message that IRA incentives are driving real job creation and cutting them now would halt Ohio's economic momentum.
The ads come as Congress debates the Republican led reconciliation bill that could roll back clean energy credits enacted under the IRA.
Minnesota Lawmakers Fail to Repeal Popular State Program
After pressure from community and organizational advocates, Minnesota lawmakers have pulled repeal language from Senate Bill 2855 and its house counterpart, and in doing so they protected Minnesota's community solar garden program.
The community solar garden program has been the cornerstone of Minnesota's clean energy transition, delivering hundreds of millions of dollars in economic benefits, lowering energy costs to subscribers and expanding affordable access to solar, particularly to low and moderate income residents.
