Siemens to manufacture US solar inverters from 2024

Siemens announced it will begin US production of solar string inverters in 2024 via a Wisconsin contract manufacturer, leveraging Inflation Reduction Act incentives. The move illustrates how localisation policy reshapes clean-energy manufacturing, a model India is pursuing through its own domestic-content schemes.

Siemens will begin producing solar energy equipment in the United States in 2024, partnering with Wisconsin-based contract manufacturer Sanmina at a Kenosha facility. The German conglomerate will manufacture solar string inverters, which convert solar-panel energy into usable current, for the US utility-scale market, leveraging incentives in President Biden's year-old climate legislation to compete with China. The initiative will initially create around a dozen jobs, ramping up to 800 megawatts of inverter capacity annually over time.

US solar developers and domestic manufacturers are affected, as the Inflation Reduction Act has catalysed $100 billion in solar investment over the past year, including $20 billion for solar and storage manufacturing. More than 50 solar manufacturing facilities have been announced or expanded since the IRA, with about 7 gigawatts of inverter capacity planned, per the Solar Energy Industries Association. Solar projects using American-made components, including inverters, qualify for a supplementary tax credit equal to 10% of project cost.

Indian solar manufacturers and policymakers should monitor how IRA domestic-content incentives reshape global supply chains and competition with China, as India pursues comparable localisation through its own schemes. Indian developers and exporters can track the build-out of US inverter capacity, including Siemens' 800-megawatt annual target. Stakeholders evaluating domestic-content strategies should watch the 10% supplementary tax credit's effect on demand for locally made inverters and components as a model for incentivising manufacturing.

Key figure — Inverter capacity target: 800 megawatts annually at Kenosha facility