A teetering U.S. residential solar industry may now be on the brink of collapse. Faced by macroeconomic challenges and shifting sands of state and federal policies, an industry once defined by double-digit growth in installations is experiencing steep declines – and the latest draft of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act makes things far worse.
The latest draft of the bill is bad all-around for clean energy, but it is particularly damaging to residential solar, cutting federal tax credits far sooner than expected.
Residential solar installations declined 31% in 2024. Over the last year, industry titans like SunPower, Sunnova, and Mosaic Solar have filed for bankruptcy.
The industry historically has leaned on the value proposition of lowering customer electricity bills and providing predictable costs for the long-term. However, that value has been increasingly difficult to provide.
Silicon is hardly the best path forward but we have seen evidence of international sabotage of progress
https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2020/02/03/hanergy-named-in-class-action-complaint-by-ex-employees-at-alta-devices/
Alta had custom implementation of 3-5 growth in order to produce high efficiency solar cells at a price competitive for ships, drones, etc. But once the tech for GaAs becomes competitive with silicon then the industry shifts, that’s not a welcomed change.
Just an opinion.
So you feel China is betting on Silicon and that the actual future is Gallium arsenide ?
Because it has a direct band gap and at 1/50 of the thickness would be cheaper and more efficient than silicon?