Independent power producers The AES Corporation, Clearway Energy Group, Cypress Creek Renewables, and D. E. Shaw Renewable Investments (DESRI), have formed the U.S. Solar Buyer Consortium to support expansion of the domestic solar supply chain and drive the growth of the American solar industry.
To meet its growth targets, the Consortium has launched a competitive RFP to search for qualified manufacturers who are aligned with the consortium's goals and can commit to a long-term strategic partnership to supply up to 7GW of solar modules per year starting from 2024.
The buying consortium will encourage a stable, domestic supply chain for solar modules. Promoting the on-shoring of the module supply chain demonstrates the buying consortium's belief in an American-made solar industry that has the potential to create over 250,000 new permanent jobs and over 50,000 new construction jobs by 2035. Increasingly domestic supply chains will create lasting resiliency and alleviate constraints faced by the industry today.
"The Consortium has a large and growing pipeline of solar projects in the United States, and we are committed to supporting America's clean energy transition," said Andrés Gluski, AES President and CEO. "We're working together with customers of all kinds to decarbonize their operations and the grid."
Increasing solar energy deployment is essential to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 and limiting global temperature rise. While the White House's recently announced 24-month bridge for certain solar imports and actions to support domestic manufacturing are a large step towards addressing supply chain challenges, the Consortium believes that more needs to be done to build upon the industry's progress towards providing lower-cost, reliable, clean power to American families and businesses.
"Today's announcement from the Consortium is just one step toward bolstering America's solar supply chain," said Craig Cornelius, CEO of Clearway Energy Group. "With legislation pending before Congress, policymakers can scale our domestic manufacturing workforce and restore our country's legacy as a manufacturing leader."
