Relocating Production
The U.S. government is relaxing regulations related to Chinese photovoltaic products. This is because both new and existing projects in the United States have been affected by a rapid decrease in the supply of those products from China, which accounts for 80 percent of the global total production.
At present, more than half of Chinese photovoltaic products are produced in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The Joe Biden administration implemented the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act in the second quarter of 2022 to ban every import from the region. Since then, only 20.2 GW of photovoltaic facilities have been installed in the United States, down 16.1 percent from a year ago.
Chinese companies in the industry are expanding business in the United States. For example, LONGi Green Energy Technology set up a joint venture with Invenergy to build a photovoltaic module plant in Pataskala, Ohio. The 5-GW-capacity plant is scheduled to be put into operation late this year based on an investment of US$600 million.
LONGi Solar, the parent company of LONGi Green Energy Technology, is the world’s largest in the wafer sector and second-largest in module. JA Solar, another major Chinese company in the industry, is building a solar panel plant in the United States.