Utility and energy infrastructure owner AES Corp. has partnered with U.S. solar developers Clearway Energy Group, Cypress Creek Renewables and D. E. Shaw Renewable Investments to form the US Solar Buyer Consortium, aimed at expanding the domestic solar supply chain and support the US solar industry growth.
The consortium will purchase over $6 billion of solar panels and seek manufacturers aligned with its goal of supplying up to 7 GW of solar modules annually from 2024.
AES already has a backlog of 10.3 GW of solar projects worldwide. A total of 3.4 GW of new projects in the U.S. will come online from 2022 to 2025. In 2021, AES signed power purchase agreements for 5 GW of renewable energy, including 1.4 GW of solar projects in the U.S. It has a total development pipeline of 59 GW, of which 68% is in the U.S.
The formation of the consortium comes at a time when the U.S. Government is focusing on strengthening America's energy security and independence.
"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."
Virginia-based AES owns both conventional and renewable utility-scale energy projects worldwide. AES owns utilities such as AES Indiana, AES Ohio and sPower.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration forecast that solar power could provide 20 percent of the nation’s electricity mix by 2050. Other entities predict that portion could be as high as 40 percent.
