Photovoltaic Industry Profile... Travelers on the Road

"Photovoltaics is a significant part of our current business and is growing as the solar-electric industry expands in response to the demands for its products and services. This is especially true with the impacts of the building-integrated PV and architectural glass markets that are just beginning."
—Chris Cording, 2001, AFG Glass, Inc.

The photovoltaics industry directly impacts diverse parts of U. S. commerce. We contribute technology, research, manufacturing, training, installation, and clean electric power. Worldwide in 2001, the photovoltaic solar-electric business is about $2 billion and growing. We currently employ some 20,000 of America's most skilled and experienced workers in high-value, high-tech jobs.¹ And by 2020, we fully expect to grow toward a workforce of 150,000 — about the size of the current glass industry — as this roadmap is implemented. Several years beyond 2020, we will be double this employment level — with jobs at the same level currently supported by General Motors or the U. S. steel industry.

We are engineers, scientists, managers, architects, builders, planners, educators, sales people, entrepreneurs, skilled laborers, financiers, designers, and investors — with a common goal of bringing electricity consumers competitive and environmentally friendly energy products and services that will benefit them, the United States, our industry, and the world.

Photovoltaic products and services already impact and contribute positively to the lives and lifestyles of our citizens. That many do not immediately recognize this is itself an endorsement of how effective, reliable, and robust is this technology. Solar-electric power underlies and enables much of what consumers have come to accept as part of normal daily living.

Automated teller machines (ATMs), cellular telephones, pagers, global positioning systems for transportation, microwave transmissions, communication repeaters, direct TV — all these products already depend on photovoltaic power for their information transfer. Emergency warning systems, telephones and telecommunications, uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), premium power, highway, information, and construction signs, and numerous consumer products have selected PV for reliable and best-option power in our everyday living. The demand is growing for residential and commercial distributed generation, because solar electricity can and is helping to solve the critical power delivery problems spreading throughout our nation. We are U. S. industry, U. S. jobs, U. S. technology — united to be a positive and significant contributor to U. S. electricity security and its energy portfolio.

We are the semiconductor solar cell and module manufacturers and venders who provide the building blocks for the solar-electric power system. We represent some two dozen companies with three dozen manufacturing sites in this country alone. In 2000, we shipped about one-third of the world's module products — some 75 megawatts. Our manufacturing capacity has doubled in the past 5 years, and we expect another doubling within the next 3 years, with an arsenal of technologies that includes crystalline, thin-film, and concentrator products. Our business has exceeded $500 million per year, and we contribute positively to the nation's balance of payments with an aggressive export market.

We are PV equipment manufacturers, designing and supplying the equipment needed to fabricate devices, assemble modules, and test products. We are the lifeline for the industry, challenged to anticipate evolving technology and to be ready with required fabrication and measurement systems when those products are set for production. Because of the nature of PV products, much of the equipment is specialized, with some equipment adaptable from the semiconductor electronics industry. Therefore, we serve more than 50 companies, including both solar-cell and module manufacturers who maintain relationships with PV-dedicated businesses and semiconductor industry equipment suppliers.

We are balance-of-systems (BOS) manufacturers and suppliers who make and market electronic components, and any necessary storage elements, that complete the solar-electric system. Currently, we are the 25 companies that design, develop, and fabricate equipment, electronics, and devices to monitor, control, ensure quality, store, and provide a utility interface to the electrical power produced by photovoltaic modules. Together with solar-cell and module manufacturers, we provide clean, reliable power appropriately sized to the application.

We are system integrators, packagers, and installers. We are the hands and minds that bring solar-electric power to consumers. We work with individuals on their residences, with groups for microgrids and power parks, and with utilities for central-station and distributed-generation applications. We employ skilled labor to mount, monitor, and maintain these systems. We also work with builders and architects to meet local codes, standards, and regulations, and to design anesthetically pleasing buildings that enhance owner investment. Our directory includes some 170 primary businesses in the United States alone.

We are research and academic institutions — the life support system for this expanding industry. We are responsible for preparing the leaders and high-tech work force for the solar-electric industry. We educate and train the scientists, engineers, technicians, and support staff to meet labor needs. Most importantly, we are the underlying force in providing critical R&D, both to improve current technology and to develop the next-generation technologies of solar electricity necessary to maintain U. S. leadership and ownership. We are the 70 universities and three national laboratories directly partnered in photovoltaic R&D. We work with industry to invent, discover, and own the intellectual property that ensures U. S. technology, U. S. economy, U. S. jobs, and U. S. industry leadership.

We are many industries and organizations that benefit from and contribute to the solar-electric power business — the indirect partners. We are architects and builders who integrate photovoltaics into commercial structures, residences, and subdivisions. We are skilled laborers — the roofers, electrical and metal workers, machinists, transportation engineers — who provide support structures, deliver the product, and install it for the end-user. We are the commodity suppliers — the glass industry, electronic device manufacturers, plastics and polymer industries, equipment suppliers, wire and cable makers, and steel, aluminum, and other metal industries. These industries employ the labor force to meet growing needs in direct PV manufacturing and deployment operations. The photovoltaics industry benefits other professions with millions of indirect jobs, with estimates of 5 to 15 such positions for each person directly employed in producing PV systems.

We are also energy partners with photovoltaics solar electricity in the generation arena. Other energy sources — wind, fuel cells, hydrogen, bioenergy, diesel, nuclear, natural gas, and hydroelectric — combine forces with photovoltaics in hybrid and/ or complementary energy delivery systems to deliver power to consumers. We maximize the best of each of our technologies for the region and the application, leading to competitive, reliable, and safer energy supplies. We are collaborators for a secure U. S. energy future.

Our U. S. photovoltaics industry is important for the nation. We offer energy security, a competitive edge in the world's economy, modularity and versatility, quality power, and reliability — with a distinct advantage for clean power generation and clean manufacturing among the current alternatives. We have a presence in the current electrical-supply market. We are a growing power of choice for environmental and electricity-demand reasons. And we are a factor in the future energy mix and economy for the United States and the world.

1 Estimates based on Directory of the U. S. Photovoltaics Industry, Solar Energy Industries Association, Washington, D. C., 1996; "Energy Alternatives and Jobs," Renewable Energy World, v. 3, n. 6, Nov/ Dec 2000, pp. 26-32.

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