Title of Dissertation: national renewable energy policy

Figure 25. 
Solar PV cell and module production, 2007-2013. 
Source: 
http://www.earth-policy.org/?/data_center/C23/
; GTM Research 
Figure 26
. Solar PV cell and module production in the U.S., 2007-2013. 
Source: 
http://www.earth-policy.org/?/data_center/C23/
; GTM Research 
0
10
20
30
40
50
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
G
iga
wa
tts
US Cell
US Module
World Cell
World Module
0
200
400
600
800
1,000
1,200
1,400
1,600
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
M
ega
wa
tts
Cell
Module

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117 
The U.S. solar manufacturing is dominated by multinational corporations 
headquartered in other countries. In 2015, among 20 cell and module manufacturers in 
the U.S., only 5 are headquartered in the U.S. (Figure 27). The manufacturers 
headquartered in China have the largest share of the U.S. solar cell and module 
manufacturing. The rest of the corporations are headquartered in Canada, Germany, 
India, South Korea, and Vietnam. 
Figure 27. 
Location of the headquarters of the U.S. solar cell and module manufacturers, 
2015. 
Source: Solar Energy Industries Association, November 7
th
, 2015. 
The dominance of the manufacturers headquartered in other countries was 
partially caused by the recent solar market conditions. In recent years, many solar 
manufacturers went out of solar business under the imbalance of the solar market. The 
declining demand due to the global financial crisis and the increasing supply from 
Chinese manufacturers have introduced challenges to solar manufacturers. Under these 
China
35%
US
25%
Canada
10%
Germany
10%
India
10%
South 
Korea
5%
Vietnam
5%

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118 
circumstances, since 2011, numerous manufacturers including Solyndra, Helios USA, 
and BP Solar closed their U.S. production facilities (Table 15).