Top 5 American solar panel manufacturers in 2025

Until recently, the majority of photovoltaic solar panels sold in the United States weren’t actually made here. However, events of the past several years have resulted in the expansion of some U.S.-based manufacturers. 

Steep tariffs on foreign-made solar materials kept inexpensive Chinese solar panels on a roughly even playing field with American products. But the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022 turbo-charged the U.S. solar manufacturing sector.

Dozens of gigawatts of new solar production capacity have been built in the U.S. over the past few years. As a result, the United States now has nearly enough solar panel manufacturing capacity to meet 100% of its annual demand. 

The current top five USA solar panel manufacturers by peak manufacturing capacity are:

1. First Solar

2. Qcells

3. Canadian Solar 

4. Illuminate USA

5. T1 Energy

American-made solar panels may not always come from American companies, but they are built by American workers. Here’s more information about five of the biggest, best companies that make solar panels in the USA.

Top 5 American solar panel manufacturers

1. First Solar

Currently the largest manufacturer of solar modules in the United States, First Solar mostly makes CdTe thin-film products aimed at the utility-scale solar sector. FirstSolar is famous for its commitment to recycling its old products and for booking orders of well over ten times its annual production capacity.

First Solar now has four manufacturing facilities across two states; three in Ohio and one in Alabama. A fifth manufacturing site is under construction in Louisiana. At current full production output, the company can make 10.7 gigawatts of solar PV modules per year.

2. Qcells

Qcells (formerly Hanwha Q CELLS), which was founded in 1999, is a subsidiary of South Korea-based Hanwha Solutions with a regional headquarters office in Irvine, California. It currently supplies more residential solar panels in the U.S. than any other company, and SolarReviews ranks the company high on our list of the best solar panels.

The company currently operates four manufacturing plants in Georgia with a combined annual capacity of 8.4 gigawatts (GW) of solar modules. 

Qcells had a goal of implementing a fully domestic solar supply chain, from raw poly-silicon production to the manufacturing of solar silicon ingots, wafers, solar cells, and finally, modules, but suffered a setback in 2024 when its polysilicon supplier could not deliver enough high-quality raw materials for it to use. The company now sources polysilicon from Malaysia.

3. Canadian Solar

It may be somewhat strange to see a company called “Canadian Solar” on the list of the top American solar panel manufacturers, but it’s true. Stranger still is that Canadian Solar is also one of a list of large Chinese solar companies that has manufacturing facilities in America.

Despite the name (and the ties to China), Canadian Solar employs thousands of Americans in its offices and manufacturing facilities in California, New York, and Texas. The company’s five gigawatt manufacturing facility in Mesquite, Texas is currently ramping up to full capacity. 

Both the company financial performance and Canadian Solar panels are good enough to make the brand #1 on our list of the best solar panels for homes in 2025. 

4. Illuminate USA (LONGi Solar)

Unlike Canadian Solar, Illuminate USA is nominally an American company, majority-owned by the giant power generation company, Invenergy. In reality, Illuminate USA is a joint venture between Invenergy and the huge Chinese company LONGi Solar. 

The company employs over 1,000 people at its solar panel manufacturing plant in Pataskala, Ohio, where it has the capacity to produce 5 GW of solar modules per year. LONGi Solar earned 10th place on our list of the best solar panels for 2025. 

5. T1 Energy (Trina Solar)

As with Illuminate USA, the T1 Energy facility in Wilmer, TX (just outside Dallas), is a joint venture between two companies. In this case, the factory was actually built under the name of Trina Solar, a giant Chinese manufacturing company, but just as the plant was to begin operation, it was sold to Norwegian company Freyr.

Like the two companies above it on this list, T1 Energy’s manufacturing plant can produce 5 GW of solar panels in a year. Trina Solar earned 8th place in our 2025 top solar panel rankings. 

Latest solar panel manufacturing trends

It is interesting to note that only one of those five companies (First Solar) is fully based in the United States. There are several other, smaller solar manufacturing companies with their worldwide headquarters here, including SEG Solar, Solar4America, and Mission Solar.

In August 2022, Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act, which introduced the Section 45X Advanced Manufacturing Production Tax Credit (45X MPTC) and expanded the Section 48C Advanced Energy Project Investment Tax Credit (48C ITC). These programs provide economic incentives to manufacture solar materials in the United States.

The 45X MPTC provides tax credits to manufacturers that make clean energy components like solar panels, and the 48C ITC provides tax credits for the purchase and commissioning of property that will be used for manufacturing. Manufacturers of solar components can choose to receive tax credits under one—but not both—of these programs.

In addition to the manufacturing tax credits, the IRA included a 10% bonus investment tax credit under section 48D for installations that use “domestic content.” This provides additional demand from solar installers for products made by U.S. companies.

Several of the facilities described above are a direct result of the multiple manufacturing incentives in the IRA. These huge new facilities pushed companies like Silfab Solar and Jinko Solar off the list of the top solar manufacturers in America. 

In addition to those already mentioned, there have been plants opened by Boviet, Houen, Maxeon, Waaree, and many other companies. In fact, it’s more surprising when a large solar manufacturer doesn’t have a facility planned for America, which is the case with both REC and Panasonic.  

One company, Heliene, recently announced a partnership with solar cell manufacturer Suniva and silicon supplier Corning to make solar panels with up to 66% domestic content. This would make the Heliene panels some of the most American solar panels in the world. 

Final thoughts

Because of the incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act and the actions of some forward-thinking companies, the future of American solar manufacturing is bright.

As homeowners shop for solar energy solutions, they are nearly as likely to be offered American-made panels than products from anywhere else. Soon, so many solar panels will be made in the USA that it may become uncommon to see imported products on the market.