When domestic manufacturing is prioritized by Independent Power Providers, the benefits of solar-powered economic development are multiplied not only for utilities and their customers, but also for American workers.
By: Nick de Vries
Date: November 21, 2024
The story of Silicon Ranch’s contribution to the domestic manufacturing sector in the United States begins even before we first opened for business in 2011, at a time when two of our co-founders, Matt Kisber and Reagan Farr, were serving our third co-founder, Governor Phil Bredesen of Tennessee, as the state’s Commissioner for Economic Development and its Revenue Commissioner, respectively. During his time in public service, Governor Bredesen foresaw the opportunities that the global transition to renewable energy would present to Tennessee’s manufacturing sector as demand rose for the technology and infrastructure necessary to capitalize on these new sources of power. He tasked Matt and Reagan with working up a clean energy jobs strategy for Tennessee that would set the state up to be a powerhouse of high-tech, renewable-powered industry, reshoring skilled manufacturing jobs back to Tennessee from overseas.
Through their efforts, Matt and Reagan were able to attract a whole host of manufacturers from across the renewable energy sector to Tennessee, including two of the world’s leading manufacturers of polysilicon, Hemlock Semiconductors and Wacker Chemie, along with the balance of systems manufacturer Shoals Technologies Group. You can listen to Matt and I discuss this influx of renewable-energy-based industry to Tennessee on this episode of Silicon Ranch Radio; the first in a series dedicated to the subject of American manufacturing.
When I first encountered Silicon Ranch — even before I came to work here– as an engineer with experience in high-tech industrial manufacturing, I was impressed by how early the leaders of the company had understood and acted upon the knowledge that the global energy transition presents a unique opportunity to revitalize domestic manufacturing in the United States. Some of the manufacturers that Silicon Ranch’s founders brought to Tennessee during their time in public service have become our partners and key contributors to our supply chain as the company’s leadership have continued to put the same faith in the American worker as they showed while in state government. Silicon Ranch purchases balance of systems technology from Shoals’ location in Portland, Tennessee, and Wacker’s commitment to produce polysilicon in Chattanooga will contribute to the blossoming of an increasingly independent industrial ecosystem here in the U.S., which is already making solar energy more affordable than ever before.
Both Jim Tharp of Wacker and Ben Macias of Shoals Technology group have spoken to Nick on separate episodes of Silicon Ranch Radio’s domestic manufacturing series about the impact that concerted commitment to domestic manufacturing is having in communities across the country.
I have seen the evidence first-hand as an engineer, that when domestic manufacturing is prioritized by Independent Power Providers, the benefits of solar-powered economic development are multiplied not only for utilities and their customers, but also for American workers, who are currently accomplishing an historic reshoring of manufacturing to the United States.
At Silicon Ranch, we have Master Supply Agreements (MSA) with Nextracker and FirstSolar, two industry-leading companies founded and based in the U.S. Nextracker is a global market leader in utility-scale solar trackers, and in May of last year we joined them to commission a new American factory to manufacture low-carbon steel components for Nextracker’s solar tracking systems. The Memphis-based facility is manufacturing steel torque tubes, has created 129 jobs and is generating millions of dollars in local economic investment. Tubes from that very facility currently supply Silicon Ranch projects throughout the Southeast as part of a supply agreement between the two companies for 4.5 gigawatts of tracking systems.
“Nextracker’s new Tennessee tube mill not only helps us maintain our 100% track record for successful project delivery but also enables us to support additional investments in American manufacturing while lowering carbon production processes of our supply chain, and reducing volatility and logistics risks, all from our home state,”
– Reagan Farr, CEO, Silicon Ranch
Similarly, since our strategic MSA with FirstSolar to purchase 6.2 gigawatts of their advanced American thin film solar modules, FirstSolar has unveiled its fourth American solar module manufacturing facility in Alabama, and has announced a fifth to be built in Louisiana, further bolstering the domestic solar supply chain in the southeastern United States, the region in which Silicon Ranch pioneered utility-scale solar development. First Solar’s newest manufacturing facility in Alabama is providing 700 new, good-paying manufacturing jobs to Alabamans and $1.1 billion of investment into the state. Modules produced in this facility will make their way to Silicon Ranch solar projects across the country, powering our neighbors with American-made, clean, reliable, and affordable energy.
Alongside trackers and panels, Silicon Ranch has also been able to source many of our transformers here in the Southeast from HICO America’s factory in West Tennessee. During our domestic manufacturing series on Silicon Ranch Radio, Nick spoke to Jason Neal, the president of Hyosung HICO and the Senior Executive VP of HICO America, about HICO’s repurposing of an existing factory near Memphis, which was then used to manufacture the transformers Silicon Ranch purchases, revitalizing an already-existing industrial community and labor force in the process.
Silicon Ranch has also become an industry leader in exploring and implementing industrial circularity practices across its projects. Circularity, as I discussed with my friend, Suvi Sharma, co-founder & CEO of Silicon Ranch partner SOLARCYCLE, during an episode in Silicon Ranch Radio’s series on domestic manufacturing, is a set of production and recycling practices that enable the production of parts and raw materials we need for solar projects right here in the United States. Approaching solar projects through this circular lens helps reduce our reliance on the new mining of precious materials like silver and copper by enabling us to mine those materials from solar panels that have reached their end of useful life. Recycling end-of-life panels in this way can provide more than a new source for materials, it can also provide a valuable source for new domestic factories and jobs. As beneficiaries of SOLARCYCLE’s advanced technology, we at Silicon Ranch are able to rest safely in the knowledge that SOLARCYCLE is able the to extract 95% of the materials that make up the solar panels it recycles. That material can then be recycled and reused once a module reached the end of its life use, to supply raw materials for the American manufacturing sector.
In addition to this conversation with Suvi, I’ve recorded seven other episodes in Silicon Ranch Radio’s domestic manufacturing series which are live and available to listeners here and on all major podcast platforms. Thus far I have hosted conversations with industry leaders on leadership, science, automation, and supply chains as each of these subjects pertains to domestic manufacturing in the U.S., as well as exploring case studies of domestic manufacturing in each of Tennessee’s three grand divisions.
These are just a few examples of the work that Silicon Ranch is doing as the Southeast’s solar energy pioneer to pursue our vision of the United States as a major producer, and not just a consumer, while bringing people together. As our chairman and co-founder Matt Kisber told Julian Spector of Canary Media, “there’s no question in Tennessee that clean manufacturing, involving EVs, battery storage for mobility and energy, is the leading new investment and job creator in the state and probably in the region.” We look forward to continuing to prioritize domestic manufacturing in our ongoing effort to promote stronger, healthier, more resilient communities across the country as our company and our industry continue to grow.