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 6pm 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.
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
Moderator: Philip Shen; Managing Director, Roth Capital Partners
This special opening session at the inaugural Solar Manufacturing USA 2026 event will be delivered by the Founder and CEO of T1 Energy, Dan Barcelo, including a discussion with Philip Shen, Managing Director at Roth Capital Partners.
Session Speaker: Adam Tesanovich; Co-Founder & CEO, TALON PV
Session Speaker: Matt Card; President & COO, Suniva
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.
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: Nathan Kii Miller; Chief Strategy Officer, Nextnova
Guest Moderator: John Smirnow; Principal, Smirnow Law
An opportunity to hear from Nextnova, one of the first major pure-play solar cell makers in the United States following the introduction of the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022.
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: Philip Zheng; President, US Manufacturing and Operations, CS PowerTech
Moderator: Finlay Colville; Founder, Terawatt PV Research
Panelist: Tim Crane; Senior Director, Supply Chain, Palmetto
Panelist: Kevin Graves; Senior Director of Engineering and Procurement, Oriden
Panelist: Tom McNulty; Director, Supply Chain and Quality, OneEnergy
Panelist: 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.
Session Speaker: Sriram Das; Executive Chairman, DYCM Power
Session Speaker: Peter Fath; Founder & CEO, RCT Solutions
Guest Moderator: Jochen Rentsch; Managing Director, Nexus GreenTech
This session hears from companies at the centre of new c-Si factory design in the United States.
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.
Panelist: Whitney Loomis; Senior Director, Strategic Procurement (Solar & BESS), Clearway Energy
Panelist: Xavier Quinet; VP Procurement, Treaty Oak Clean Energy
Panelist: Juan Carlos Rosa; Director of Procurement, Lightsource bp
Panelist: Nick de Vries; CTO, Silicon Ranch
Guest Moderator: Greg Brabec; Chief Legal Officer, Silfab Solar
The second of two special panel sessions on Day One, hearing from more procurement decision-makers for U.S.-made solar products.
Panelist: Tom Beline; Partner, Cassidy Levy Kent
Panelist: Nate Picarsic; Founder, Horizon Advisory
Panelist: Angela Santos; Partner and Customs Practice Leader, ArentFox Schiff
Panelist: John Smirnow; Principal, Smirnow Law
Guest Moderator: Greg Brabec; Chief Legal Officer, Silfab Solar
Closing out Day One is a stellar group of experts tasked with simplifying all those legal documents we’ve been hearing about in recent months – and conveying how these help or otherwise the long-term goal of domestic U.S. solar manufacturing.
Session Speaker: Dirk Bräunlich; Director Sales Solar, ASYS Group
Session Speaker: Kirkland Requejo; Commercial Manager & U.S. Policy Analyst, Mondragon Assembly
Session Speaker: Eckhard Schaefer; Senior VP Solar Products, Photonics Systems USA
Session Speaker: Dennis Seibert; Managing Director, PVA Crystal Growing Systems
Session Speaker: Michael Taschuk; CTO, G2V Optics
Session Speaker: Tom Thieme; Business Unit Manager Solar, ISRA VISION, Part of Atlas Copco Group
Session Speaker: Michael Vees; Sales Director, RENA Technologies
Session Speaker: Jake Veloza; Sales Manager, Americas, Iberia, & UK, Eternal Sun WAVELABS
Session Speaker: Marian Breitenbücher; CCO, HighLine Technology
Guest Moderator: Raymond De Munnik; Chief Strategic Advisor; Vikram Solar
One of the highlights of Solar Manufacturing USA 2026, this session features leading ‘Western’ equipment suppliers behind the production tools used inside ingot, wafer, cell and module factories. Understand how solar PV components are manufactured today, where the products are inspected through the production lines and the tools used to test the performance and quality of the yields.
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: Jason May; Executive Chairman, QSM Group
Session Speaker: Dana Hankey; Senior Executive Fellow & Board Member, ACI Materials
Session Speaker: Thad Druffel; CEO, Bert Thin Films
Session Speaker: Gang Xiong; Senior VP of Thin Film Technology, Vital Materials
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.
Panelist: Rob Foree; Project Manager, Black & Veatch
Panelist: Henry Hieslmair; Principal Engineer, Solar Technology, DNV Energy USA
Panelist: Derek Sanchez; Director, Senior Vice President, Luminate
Panelist: 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.
Session Speaker: Jamie Wang; Director of R&D Institute, SC Solar
Panelist: Frank Faller; Chief Technology Officer, ELITE Solar
Panelist: Harsh Galia; Director of PV Solutions Engineering, Qcells
Panelist: Art Fletcher; Chief Executive Officer, Illuminate USA
Panelist: Ashok Nair; Chief Executive Officer - Americas, Inox Solar Americas
Moderator: Ben Norris; Vice President, Regulatory Affairs, SEIA
Panelist: Gordon Brinser; Chief Operating Officer, US Modules
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: Aaron Thurlow; Chief Commercial Officer, Caelux
Session Speaker: Joel Jean; CEO and Co Founder, 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.