ES Foundry Is Building a World-Class Manufacturing Operation. Here’s Independent Proof.
By Lionel Moss, ES Foundry There’s a lot happening at ES Foundry. We recently completed the expansion of our Greenwood facility to 3 GW of annual solar cell manufacturing capacity, dramatically increasing the scale of our U.S. manufacturing operations. At the same time, teams across the company were tackling another major milestone: demonstrating that the […]
When a “U.S.-Made” Solar Cell Isn’t: The Blue Wafer Claims Putting Tax Credits and Compliance at Risk
By Alex Zhu, CEO Not all wafers entering U.S. solar cell factories are the same, which is drawing scrutiny from federal lawmakers, regulators and the solar industry. What kind of wafer comes into the factory can determine whether a product is truly a U.S.-manufactured solar cell — or a substantially completed foreign cell receiving only […]
What Solar Buyers Are Prioritizing — and What the Poll Results Miss
By Ken Johnston, VP of Sales A recent ES Foundry LinkedIn poll asked what matters most in solar cell and module procurement decisions as developers navigate domestic content requirements, FEOC rules and increasingly compressed project timelines. Among respondents, domestic content availability ranked first at 50%, followed by FEOC-compliant supply chains at 33% and the ability […]
Execution Will Define the Next Phase of the U.S. Solar Manufacturing Ecosystem
By Alex Zhu, CEO, ES Foundry Since the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, the U.S. solar industry has focused on reinvigorating domestic manufacturing. Policy created momentum, expanded investments and opportunities and companies have announced ambitious plans to strengthen the domestic supply chain. Plans aren’t enough, however — the next chapter will be […]
Proven Manufacturing Comes First When Building the U.S. Solar Cell Roadmap
By Sekhar Tatineni, Vice President of Technology, ES Foundry At CLEANPOWER 2026, I discussed one of the most important technology questions facing U.S. solar manufacturing: Which solar cell technologies can help the United States build a stronger, more resilient manufacturing base? The conversation around domestic solar manufacturing often focuses on capacity, supply chain security, domestic […]
Takeaways from Infocast’s 2026 Tax Credits & Transferability Conference
By: Ken Johnston, VP of Sales The clean energy finance market is not short on capital, projects or long-term confidence. But at Infocast’s 2026 Tax Credits & Transferability conference, one message came through clearly: The path to financing is becoming more exacting, documentation-driven and dependent on risk mitigation than ever before. Across conversations on tax-credit […]
Domestic Content Has Evolved Beyond a Checkbox into a Critical Portfolio Strategy
Domestic content has moved from being merely a modeling upside to a procurement, financing and execution issue. For developers and asset owners planning 2026, 2027 and 2028 projects, the question is “Can we qualify for the domestic content bonus in a way that protects project economics, keeps procurement flexible and holds up in diligence?” That […]
Certainty Wins As FEOC Scrutiny Deepens
By Ken Johnston, VP of Sales When FEOC restrictions first began reshaping the solar conversation, much of the market focused on the policy itself: what it did and didn’t say, when it applied and how far it might reach. That uncertainty has not disappeared. In many ways, it has become more important. Today, the market […]
FEOC-Free From Inception: Why That Matters Now
One of crucial dynamics in the current FEOC environment is that compliance is easier to underwrite when the company providing the materials is stable. Many solar market entrants have gone through changes in ownership, governance, investment sources or entity structure as they scaled. Even when those changes are made for good reasons, they often create […]
ES Foundry at RE+ Northeast and Intersolar: What we heard and what it signals for 2026 procurement
Ken Johnston, VP of Sales This winter, our team spent time on the ground at two key industry gatherings: RE+ Northeast and Intersolar & Energy Storage North America. We wanted to listen closely, compare notes across developer types and project stages, and pressure-test what’s actually driving decisions right now. Across both events, the mood was […]