The US solar industry has a supply problem

Most of the world’s polysilicon is made in China, and the US solar industry is encouraging suppliers to increase production elsewhere. Solar companies argue that a less-concentrated supply chain will be more resilient, emit less carbon, and circumvent companies accused of using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. The US and Indian governments recently added momentum to this endeavor, pledging billions of dollars to scale up domestic solar manufacturing and guarantee future access to clean energy.

Some companies are already responding. Reliance Energy says it will spend $7.5 billion on a green energy manufacturing hub in India that will include polysilicon production. The other two companies that make polysilicon in the US—Hemlock Semiconductor and REC Silicon—are also ramping up production. Hemlock turned on idle capacity for solar-grade polysilicon at its plant in Michigan this summer, and REC Silicon plans to reopen a polysilicon facility in Washington. “Producers don’t want to rely upon unstable sources,” REC Silicon CEO James May says.

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Even with all that momentum, challenging China’s preeminence in solar manufacturing will not be easy. In addition to its massive polysilicon capacity, Chinese companies control the subsequent steps in the supply chain: the production of silicon ingot and wafers, solar cells, and final solar panels. Supply chain experts say other countries must build up capacity in those parts of the supply chain as well if they are to decrease the risk of disruptions. And polysilicon makers outside China must prove they can compete with rivals in China that have access to ample government support.

The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), an industry group, argues that incentives in the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act will kick-start US solar production, eventually making it competitive with China. Over the next 8 years, SEIA hopes companies will build US factories capable of making 50 GW of solar panels per year, nearly enough to power every home in Texas.

“Maybe half of that crosses the finish line,” Collins says. “That’s still a lot of polysilicon demand. Much more than the three producers in the US make today.”

THE PROCESS

Polysilicon is at the heart of a solar panel. Small amounts of other elements are added to polysilicon so that one side of the material has extra electrons. When sunlight hits a solar cell, it displaces those extra electrons. They flow to the opposite side of the cell, which has molecules that can accept them. The flow of electrons creates an electric current.

The process for making polysilicon starts in mines extracting quartzite, which is essentially gravel with high levels of silicon dioxide and low levels of impurities like iron. Many of those mines are in China, but quartzite reserves are abundant in Brazil, Norway, and the US. The gravel is melted down in a furnace with a carbon source, usually coal or charcoal, to produce silicon metal, silvery-gray rocks that are at least 98% silicon.

Companies like Wacker use the Siemens process to remove the remaining impurities. The resulting polysilicon is a crystallized form of silicon that needs to be at least 99.9999% pure for solar applications—and even purer for computer chips. “It’s a really technical plant that turns silver rocks into silver rocks,” Collins says of the facility he leads.

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