The AES Corporation along with leading US solar companies, Clearway Energy Group (Clearway), Cypress Creek Renewables, and D.E. Shaw Renewable Investments (DESRI) has announced the formation of the US Solar Buyer Consortium to drive the expansion of the domestic solar supply chain and support the growth of the American solar industry.
The US Solar Buyer Consortium is committed to purchasing more than $6 billion of solar panels and is looking for manufacturers that are aligned with the consortium's goals that can supply up to 7 GW of solar modules per year starting from 2024. This announcement comes amidst an increasing focus from the US Government to strengthen America's energy security and independence by reducing its supply chain reliance on competing nations.
AES has a large backlog of solar projects in the US, including 3.4 GW of new projects coming online from 2022 to 2025, out of a total backlog of 10.3 GW across all geographies and technologies. In 2021, AES signed contracts for 5 GW of power purchase agreements (PPAs) for renewable energy, including 1.4 GW for US solar projects. AES also completed more agreements with corporate customers than anyone else in the world in 2021, driven in part by-products such as 24/7 carbon-free energy, which provides renewable energy around-the-clock to customers including Microsoft, Amazon, and Google1. The company has a 59 GW development pipeline of which 68 percent is in the United States2.
"With our large and growing pipeline of solar projects, AES is fully committed to accelerating America's transition to clean energy," said Andrés Gluski, AES President and CEO.
"Today, some of America's top solar developers have come together to do our part to help attract investments into US solar manufacturing. It is crucial, however, that the US Government creates a realistic, long-term policy framework that supports onshoring more of our solar panel supply chain without unnecessarily disrupting the growth and success of our sector."
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