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 more bullish than one might expect. Most teams still want to build, but they want to minimize the execution risks, including: EPC capacity, contract structure, technology bankability and how to make tax-credit outcomes defensible under evolving guidance.
Here’s what we heard most consistently and what it means for developers, module makers and anyone trying to keep portfolios moving.
1) Timelines are stretching, often by design.
One of the clearest signals we heard is that project commercial operation date (COD) dates are shifting further out—in some cases being renegotiated toward 2030. More often than not, that’s a strategic reset. Developers are reworking agreements to preserve optionality, manage uncertainty and align with EPC and interconnection realities.
Two forces are driving this:
- EPC constraints and build capacity: Teams still cite EPC bandwidth as a gating factor. Even strong projects can slip when labor schedules and sequencing don’t line up.
- Contract renegotiations as risk management: Some developers are actively revisiting commercial terms to reduce exposure to procurement volatility, tariff uncertainty and delivery risk.
The schedule isn’t simply a timeline anymore. More developers are using it as a risk strategy. The projects that move fastest will be the ones with fewer unknowns baked into procurement and documentation.
2) The recent IRS guidance helped, but it didn’t change the economics overnight.
We heard a lot of discussion about the recent IRS guidance, or “FEOC-lite,” related to domestic content. Most attendees appreciated the added clarity, but the consensus was that it didn’t suddenly unlock a step-change in economic value.
The value of the domestic content bonus has never been the only question. The bigger issue is whether a project can substantiate the claim in a way that tax equity, lenders, insurers and diligence teams will accept without months of friction.
In other words, guidance helped, but it wasn’t a game-changer.
This is where solar cells matter more than many people realize. Cells sit at the center of what makes a domestic content strategy financeable because they are a key input to compliance documentation and project-level substantiation.
3) Technology choices are splitting: “proven and bankable” are back in fashion.
Across both shows, we heard a familiar message: developers still want the efficiency upside of next-gen tech, but many are prioritizing what underwrites cleanly and performs predictably over the next 25 years or more. That’s pushing more procurement conversations back toward proven, bankable solutions, especially when schedules are tight and diligence is unforgiving.
Teams are increasingly sensitive to manufacturing ramp risk and consistency at scale. In that environment, bankability is defined by demonstrated repeatability, stable quality and a track-record financiers trust. That’s exactly why ES Foundry’s U.S.-made PERC cells continue to resonate: They’re proven, financeable and built for predictable outcomes.
4) Domestic content is becoming a sourcing motion, not a headline.
Domestic content remains attractive, but teams don’t always know how to buy it. Some assume it requires a single-vendor, fully domestic module solution. Others don’t realize they can work through their existing module relationships while still incorporating U.S.-made inputs.
That’s where ES Foundry fits. We’re a U.S. manufacturer of solar cells. We supply U.S.-made crystalline cells into the module ecosystem and support partners so developers can incorporate domestic cells without reworking their entire procurement strategy. The result is a cleaner path to domestic content goals while keeping commercial terms, supply continuity and delivery schedules intact.
When teams understand this clearly, the conversation gets easier and faster. It becomes less about “who sells what” and more about “how do we structure procurement so the project outcome is defensible.”
5) Smaller developers are still feeling the squeeze.
While many larger players expressed confidence about moving projects forward this year, smaller developers continue to face real financial constraints. We heard repeated themes around tighter capital, higher diligence burdens and less tolerance for surprises from counterparties.
That reality is widening the gap between:
- teams that can absorb procurement shifts and documentation overhead; and
- teams that need predictability because one delay can cascade across the whole pipeline.
For the broader market, this matters because smaller developers play an outsized role in origination and early-stage development. When they are constrained, the whole funnel tightens.
6) Bank confidence is shifting toward stability and transparency.
One of the more encouraging insights we discussed internally is how much corporate stability and supply chain transparency affect underwriting behavior. Teams shared that when counterparties can clearly understand a manufacturer’s structure, documentation approach and execution track record, perceived risk drops.
Less uncertainty means fewer delays and less friction during diligence.
ES Foundry builds for project certainty—not just through product, but through how we support documentation and bankability across the ecosystem.
What this means heading into Infocast and the spring procurement season
With Re+Texas and Infocast coming up, we’re leaning into the messages we heard reinforced at RE+ Northeast and Intersolar:
- Domestic content is a project-level outcome, not a label.
- Cells are a critical lever for substantiation and compliance.
- FEOC-aligned procurement is becoming a standard expectation.
- Execution and documentation are the differentiators.
We’ll keep showing up, listening and translating market reality into a stronger domestic supply chain because the winners in this cycle won’t be the ones with the loudest claims. They’ll be the ones who make procurement, compliance and delivery feel boring in the best possible way. Schedule a meeting with us to discuss latest trends and your domestic content needs at sales.team@esfoundrycorp.com.