The growing need for solar energy
- The Solar Energy Industries Association states there are 236 GW of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems installed in the U.S. as of Dec 2024.*
- Wood Mackenzie projects that 502 GW of additional solar systems will be installed in the U.S. between 2025 to 2035 with annual installations over 40 GW/yr through 2035.*
- During 2025-2030, the projected need in the U.S. for PV utility-scale solar power is over 30 GW/year.*
*Wood McKenzie, PV Magazine, April & June, 2025
The US supply chain gap for low-cost solar wafers
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has identified a critical gap in the solar supply chain, which is the lack of a domestic source of silicon wafers for cells. In February 2022, DOE published an Energy Fact Sheet that stated:
- 97% of the world’s production of silicon wafers occurs in China.
- U.S. solar cell companies currently rely on imported silicon wafers.
Our solution
- Solaris Wafers, LLC is working on development of a revolutionary wafer casting process to manufacture low-cost silicon wafers for production of large quantities of solar cells for utility-scale PV power systems.
- Low-cost wafers from Solaris Wafers will address the supply gap and enable the United States to become a global leader in the production of solar cells and systems.
"More energy from sunlight strikes the Earth in one hour (13.6 TW), than all the energy consumed on the planet in one year (13.0 TW)"
US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Workshop on Energy Utilization, April 2005