Introduction from the Conference Chair
Speakers
Finlay Colville
Manufacturing & technology in the PV industry in the Terawatt annual production era
The opening presentation at PV CellTech USA 2024 from conference Chair, Dr. Finlay Colville, will provide a fascinating look at how PV technology in manufacturing has evolved over the past 50 years, covering the major developments that have made 25% efficiency solar cells a mainstream occurance in a 700-GW-plus annual PV production environment. Using this as the benchmark for PV manufacturing today, Finlay will then look into his crystal ball to predict how PV cell manufacturing may evolve over the next five years, out to 2030. This will include the big-question in PV today: what-next-after-TOPCon?
Understand just what the U.S. is up against when it comes to backward integrating the new module fabs today to cell and then wafer manufacturing. This unmissable opening talk will truly set the scene for an action-packed two days of PV CellTech USA 2024 which, as a whole, will frame the challenges and opportunities for the U.S. PV segment, against the backdrop of the huge performance and cost achievements undertaken in China over the past 20 years.
Speakers
Finlay Colville
Creating a robust policy framework to nurture domestic-made PV products in the U.S.
Moderator
Finlay Colville
The opening session will provide a comprehensive update on the domestic drivers in place today to help stimulate new investments into U.S. PV manufacturing, including production-based incentives, end-market demand and corporate traceability buying trends. Hear from policymakers, leading decision-makers influencing domestic manufacturing, and other key stakeholders.
Speakers
Markus Beck
Kaitlyn Howling
Delivering a sustainable manufacturing eco-system in the U.S. for PV manufacturing
Moderator
Finlay Colville
As announcements of new PV manufacturing capacity in the U.S. become a reality in 2024 and beyond, a diverse range of stakeholders – across silicon and thin-film supply chains – is innovating to create the necessary materials and equipment that will allow a domestic eco-system to be established. This session focuses on some of the companies and organizations that are driving this onshoring of key components and equipment for the U.S. sector, and the value-added they are creating across the value-chain.
Speakers
Michael Parr
Eric Hafter
Coffee Break
The legal framework underpinning domestic US PV manufacturing
Moderator
Philip Shen
While new domestic PV manufacturing in the U.S. is being driven by a combination of domestic manufacturing and deployment incentives, the rate at which new capacity is being installed through the value-chain (from modules back to wafers) is being controlled also by the flow of wafers, cells and modules into the U.S. that are not subject to excessive import duties. At the heart of each of these issues is a legal framework of policies introduced – or under consideration – by U.S. government departments. This session will offer an invaluable guide to understanding what this landscape looks like today, what the implications are for domestic wafer and cell capacity to be fast-tracked in 2025/2026, and how policy may evolve in coming years to adapt to a changing domestic supply eco-system.
Speakers
John Smirnow
Tom Beline
Nathan Picarsic
Samantha Overly
Networking Lunch
How does the U.S. choose the best PV technology, ramp-up cutting-edge production lines, & become a technology-leader by 2030?
Moderator
Finlay Colville
The initial phase of new PV manufacturing capacity in the U.S. has mostly involved First Solar adding new thin-film fabs and silicon-based manufacturers setting up module lines using cells using Chinese developed technologies, produced in Southeast Asia. For the U.S. to become a technology-leader by 2030, silicon-based technology differentiation is needed alongside a new solar fab-operations ‘mentality’ that has not existed in the U.S. in the past. This session will look at some of the technologies that could offer U.S. differentiation going forward, consider the eco-system in place today in the U.S. to foster technology-transfer and pilot-line process knowledge from lab-to-fab, and discuss how new PV fabs fit can benefit from the growing trend for ‘onshoring’ key technologies in the U.S. in general.
Speakers
Sebastian Gatz
Mariana Bertoni
Gang Shi
The opportunity for U.S. PV manufacturing to own the transition to back-contact cell technology
Moderator
Raymond De Munnik
All signs today are that back-contact technologies will replace TOPCon cell production, as the industry makes its final push to the ultimate single-junction silicon cell architecture. But how ready is the U.S. eco-system to make this change: where does the IP reside, which R&D labs globally can facilitate the necessary technology-transfer, is there a non-Chinese equipment supply-chain? Should the new cell lines of 2025 in the U.S. be back-contact ‘ready’ and if so, what does a hybrid TOPCon/back-contact production line look like? This session addresses these issues head-on, looking also upstream to ingot pulling and polysilicon purity levels that would be required to enable cell efficiencies in the high twenties.
Speakers
Jan Lossen
Massimo Centazzo
Aaron Barkhouse
Coffee Break
New U.S. capacity for 2025 and beyond
Moderator
Cherif Kedir
The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) has been instrumental in creating a host of new fabs in the U.S. during 2024, with many more planned to go into mass production in 2025. This session will hear from some of the first movers in this space, understanding the scale of new capacity ramped this year and planned for 2025, the technologies selected, and cell and module availability for utility-scale projects in coming years.
Speakers
Brenden Frazier
Jim Wood
Arndt E. Lutz
Networking Drinks Reception
Join us for an informal drinks reception at the end of Day 1
Building fabs & production lines in the U.S. using overseas expertise & know-how
Moderator
Tristan Erion-Lorico
Adding new PV production lines in the U.S. is drawing upon global expertise across a wide range of stakeholders: companies that have been technology leaders over the past few decades in the sector; manufacturers that believe in the benefits of vertical integration from wafers to modules; and companies that are among the first movers to build new cell lines outside China and Southeast Asia. This session will hear from some of the major players in the PV industry globally that are in the process of bringing their knowledge in manufacturing to the U.S., what lessons can be learned from decades of experience setting up new manufacturing sites, and how issues like sustainable operations can sit alongside traditional drivers such as efficiency, power ratings and production costs.
Speakers
Hongbin Fang Ph.D.
Sudhir Reddy
Harsh Galia
Materials and equipment selection for new U.S. manufacturing plants
Moderator
Markus Beck
To truly create a domestic eco-system feeding into cell and module fabs in the U.S., key raw materials and equipment is needed. This session will include talks from some of the leading suppliers in this space, in particular feeding into some of the new module fabs built in 2024 and ready to serve increased expansions here over the next few years. Particular focus will be placed on the opportunity arising today in the U.S. to address some of the reliability issues that have been occurring in recent years in U.S. solar plants when using imported modules.
Speakers
Fulvio Toma
Lisa Madenjian
Stefan Dauwe
Coffee Break
Technology & supply-chain selection for new U.S. fabs from 2025 onwards
Moderator
Finlay Colville
Choosing the current mainstream PV technology for new capacity would mean new ingot/wafer and cell/module fabs aligning with TOPCon based variants existing mainstream technologies developed in China over the past decade. Is this the best route for capacity in the short-term in the U.S., or should we be looking at options to move this to the next PV technology ‘node’? This session will hear from companies planning investments through the value-chain, in particular upstream from module assembly, where technology choice is now under consideration investing in new technologies, equipment and supply-chains that could drive change to the U.S. manufacturing landscape as it moves upstream from the module capacity installed until now. The session will include talks from invited speakers, followed by an interactive panel discussion with a range of stakeholders currently active in creating new options for U.S. PV manufacturing.
Speakers
Marvin Yang
Chris Case
Tom Thieme
Alex Zhu
Networking Lunch
New U.S. owned technologies for next-generation domestic production
Moderator
Finlay Colville
This special session will feature a host of new technology offerings from U.S.-based research institutes, start-ups and equipment suppliers in the U.S. serving adjacent technology segments. The format will be a rapid-fire succession of pitches, chosen to cover a broad range of technologies that have the potential to introduce next-generation processes to the growing domestic capacity landscape in the U.S. today.
Speakers
Scott Graybeal
Thad Druffel
Stephen Sauter
Colin Bailie
Profitable PV manufacturing in the U.S.: costs, incentives & margins on offer
Moderator
Finlay Colville
Another special session here, an interactive attempt to work out the real cost of making solar cells in the U.S., and where the equipment could come from if Chinese equipment cannot be imported. The starting point – or baseline – will be the lowest cell cost structure at volume scale operations in China, then step-by-step, deltas will be added, before – hopefully- we arrive at the reality of making solar cells in the U.S. today in a 2-3 GW scale facility. Have your inputs from the conference floor. Share your estimates if you so desire also! Either way, countless people have been going through exactly these calculations in the past few years for U.S. cell manufacturing – so why is getting cell capacity added so much harder than module capacity today? Could this session finally be the place to understand the correct level of production incentives or tax benefits specific for U.S. cell manufacturing to be viable?
Speakers
Raymond De Munnik
Dr Wolfgang Jooss
Teresa Barnes
The outlook for new capacity in 2025-2028: how close to self-consumption will the U.S. market become by 2030?
Following on from the previous discussion, the final session features detailed outlooks on how PV manufacturing value-chains in the U.S. are likely to evolve in the next 2-3 years, based of course on what can be expected from future trade restrictions on imported product and the levels of incentives available going forward for domestically produced components. Are the days of Southeast Asia module imports really going to come to an end? Will the door be open to Indian module imports several years down the line? Will the U.S. have sufficient locally-produced PV components to plug the gap in expected end-market demand? This session will try to answer as many of these questions as possible!