Explore the two-day agenda for Solar Manufacturing USA 2026, covering production volumes, cell innovation, factory benchmarking, upstream manufacturing, production-line ownership, factory build-out, operating economics and the roadmap to 100 GW by 2035.
In addition to the two-day agenda shown below, Solar Manufacturing USA 2026 also features planned activities before and after the conference:
- Pre-Event Welcome Reception hosted by RETC, part of the VDE Group on Monday 21 September at 7pm at the AT&T Hotel and Conference Center.
- Optional factory tours by invitation are available on Thursday 24 September; further details will be provided soon.
Introducing the inaugural Solar Manufacturing USA event, Senior Editor at pv magazine USA, Ryan Kennedy will outline the structure of the two-day agenda, the topics included, and the various networking activities planned.
Invited Keynote Speaker: Charlie Gay; Founder, Greenstar Foundation
Conference Chair Keynote: Finlay Colville; Founder, Terawatt PV Research
Guest Moderator: Markus Beck; Head of Business Development North America, RCT Solutions
The event starts with the first of four special sessions dedicated to U.S. and global PV manufacturing dynamics, delivered by some of the most accomplished and well-known experts in the industry.
Keynote Speaker: Dan Barcelo; Founder & CEO, T1 Energy
Session Speaker: To be announced
Moderator: Philip Shen; Managing Director, Roth Capital Partners
This session features companies that are pivotal to the build-out of new solar cell and module factories in the United States over the next 5-10 years.
Session Speaker: Adam Tesanovich; Co-Founder & CEO, TALON PV
Moderator: Philip Shen; Managing Director, Roth Capital Partners
The first of three special talks from pure-play cell producers in the United States, set to play a key role in the emerging domestic silicon-based ecosystem.
Keynote Speaker: Jim Wood; CEO, SEG Solar
Moderator: Finlay Colville; Founder, Terawatt PV Research
A chance to hear the progress and updated plans from SEG Solar, a Texas-based PV module producer whose recent capacity expansion plans are set to propel the company to one of top producers of silicon-based modules in the United States from 2027 onwards.
Invited Keynote Speaker: Paul Basore; Formerly, DOE Chief Scientist for Solar Energy Technologies
Global Technology Leadership Speaker: Guoqiang Xing; CTO, Tongwei
Moderator: Finlay Colville; Founder, Terawatt PV Research
A further two presentations in the special U.S. and global PV manufacturing dynamics series.
Keynote Speaker: Cherif Kedir; CEO and President, RETC, part of the VDE Group
Guest Moderator: John Smirnow; Principal, Smirnow Law
Keynote presentation from RETC, a leading U.S. based company focused on test protocols for domestic manufactured PV products.
Session Speaker: Matt Card; President & COO, Suniva
Guest Moderator: John Smirnow; Principal, Smirnow Law
The second major contribution to the event specific to leading pure-play cell producers in the United States today – this time featuring Suniva.
Invited Keynote Speaker: Terry Jester; Chairman, Highland Materials
Moderator: Finlay Colville; Founder, Terawatt PV Research
The third session specific to U.S. and global PV manufacturing trends, featuring Terry Jester.
Session Speaker: Ken Johnston; Vice President, ES Foundry
Moderator: Finlay Colville; Founder, Terawatt PV Research
The third presentation of the day on the pure-play solar cell companies in the United States that are set to play a major role in the domestic silicon-based sector.
Opening Session Speaker: Kamel Ounadjela; General Manager, International Business Unit, LAPLACE Renewable Energy Technology
Session Speaker: Peter Fath; Founder & CEO, RCT Solutions
Moderator: Finlay Colville; Founder, Terawatt PV Research
The first of two sessions focusing on how to set up U.S. based solar production lines and the raw materials supply chains, with a focus on the equipment used.
Invited Panellist: Tim Crane; Senior Director, Supply Chain, Palmetto
Invited Panellist: Kevin Graves; Senior Director of Engineering and Procurement, Oriden
Invited Panellist: Tom McNulty; Director, Supply Chain and Quality, OneEnergy
Invited Panellist: Angad Sachdeva; Director of Solar Technology, Apex Clean Energy
Guest Moderator: Mike Carr; Executive Director, SEMA Coalition
The first of two special panel sessions on Day One, featuring some of the key procurement decision-makers for solar products in the United States today.
Opening Session Speaker: To be announced; Nextnova
Session Speaker: Sriram Das; Executive Chairman, DYCM Power
Guest Moderator: Jochen Rentsch; Managing Director, Nexus GreenTech
Presentations companies that have recently added new module capacity in the United States and are set to integrate upstream through cell production line additions.
Opening Session Speaker: Paul Gillespie; VP of Business Development - US, TT VISION Technologies
Session Speaker: Tony Hui; Americas Key Account Manager & General Manager Assistant, Autowell Technology
Guest Moderator: Jochen Rentsch; Managing Director, Nexus GreenTech
The second of two sessions focusing on the optimization of production equipment in the new silicon-based factories.
Invited Panellist: Nick de Vries; CTO, Silicon Ranch
Invited Panellist: Juan Carlos Rosa; Director of Procurement, Lightsource bp
Invited Panellist: Xavier Quniet; VP Procurement, Treaty Oak Clean Energy
Guest Moderator: Nate Picarsic; Founder, Horizon Advisory
The second of two special panel sessions on Day One, hearing from more procurement decision-makers for U.S.-made solar products.
Event Host: Ryan Kennedy; Senior Editor, pv magazine USA
Opening remarks from Ryan Kennedy on what to expect during the second day of the event.
Session Speaker: Michael Vees; Sales Director, RENA Technologies
Session Speaker: Eckhard Schaefer; Senior VP Solar Products, Photonics Systems USA
Session Speaker: Jake Veloza; Sales Manager, Americas, Iberia, & UK, Eternal Sun WAVELABS
Session Speaker: Kirkland Requejo; Commercial Manager & U.S. Policy Analyst, Mondragon Assembly
Session Speaker: To be announced; HighLine Technology
Guest Moderator: Raymond De Munnik; Chief Strategic Advisor; Vikram Solar
Inside the factories, hear from some of the leading companies making the production equipment, inspection and automation tools.
Session Speaker: Mike Scott; Senior Manager, QA, Intertek CEA
Session Speaker: Jenya Meydbray; VP & General Manager, Nextpower
Guest Moderator: Teresa Barnes; Multi-Institutional Research Leader; National Laboratory of the Rockies
This session bridges the gap between compliance and field reliability by exploring how to effectively scale domestic U.S. manufacturing. Nextpower will break down the scaling of materials for trackers and modules, while Intertek CEA will detail factory quality assurance audits required to secure bankable supply.
Session Speaker: Gang Xiong; Senior VP of Thin Film Technology, Vital Materials
Session Speaker: Jason May; Executive Chairman, QSM Group
Session Speaker: To be announced, Bert Thin Films
Guest Moderator: Teresa Barnes; Multi-Institutional Research Leader; National Laboratory of the Rockies
This session features presentations from suppliers establishing domestic production to serve new cell factories (with wafers, metallization paste and processing consumables) and the materials needed for module assembly.
Invited Panellist: Rob Foree; Project Manager, Black & Veatch
Invited Panellist: Henry Hieslmair; Principal Engineer, Solar Technology, DNV Energy USA
Invited Panellist: Jordan Nicholson; Director, Client Services, Luminate
Invited Panellist: Jon Previtali; Founder & CEO, New Energy Diligence
Moderator: Finlay Colville; Founder, Terawatt PV Research
This session features leading Independent Engineers (IEs) discussing their role in evaluating and qualifying new domestic U.S. PV operations. Panellists will explain how technical audits, factory acceptance testing, and supply chain assessments directly influence project bankability. The discussion will outline the specific engineering benchmarks used to verify domestic production quality and facilitate project financing.
Global Technology Leadership Speaker: Adam Detrick, Director of Product Management & Technical Services, JinkoSolar
Moderator: Finlay Colville; Founder, Terawatt PV Research
The final part of the special focus on U.S. & global manufacturing trends, this session will examine how a silicon-based ecosystem, spanning ingot to module production and related materials supply, can come to fruition. Specific attention and analysis will be presented related to Jinko’s leading global status in realizing a fully-integrated 56 GW facility – the world’s largest silicon-based manufacturing plant.
Panellist: Frank Faller; Chief Technology Officer, Elite Solar
Other panellists to be announced.
Moderator: Finlay Colville; Founder, Terawatt PV Research
This hybrid session will capture the domestic PV manufacturing plans from a range of leading companies at the heart of U.S. supply-chains today.
Global Technology Leadership Speaker: Ralf Preu; Director Photovoltaics, Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE
Session Speaker: Scott Graybeal; CEO, Caelux
Session Speaker: Tomas Leijtens; Chief Technology Officer, Swift Solar
Session Speaker: Laureen Sanderson; CCO, CubicPV
Session Speaker: Laura Miranda; Chief Strategy Officer, Oxford PV
Session Speaker: Colin Bailie; Co-founder & CTO, Tandem PV
Moderator: Ralph Romero; Senior Managing Director, Black & Veatch
This session will provide the audience with a detailed understanding of how perovskite-based tandem architectures offer significant performance advantages compared to the solar industry’s mainstream single-junction solar cells.
Conference Chair: Finlay Colville; Founder, Terawatt PV Research
Final comments and takeaways from Finlay, with some of the key topics that will dominate investments and technology decisions across the domestic U.S. PV sector during the 2027-2030 period.