Central Washington faces challenges, opportunities with growing renewable tech industry.

MOSES LAKE – Once known primarily for agriculture, Grant County is fast becoming a hub for electric vehicle batteries and green technology.

Abundant space, cheap electricity and government funding are powering the transition.

But with rapid growth comes some challenges, U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse said at a forum Friday with employees of Sila Nanotechnology, a battery part manufacturer in Moses Lake.

“This community is growing,” said Alex Fitzsimmons, Sila’s head of government affairs. “There’s a lot more manufacturing coming into the county and Sila is just a microcosm of that.”

The Alameda, California-based company is renovating a 600,000 square-foot factory in Moses Lake with plans to create as many as 500 new jobs to manufacture silicon anodes to be used in lithium-ion batteries. Silicon anodes are a cutting-edge technology that could replace graphite anodes, which are less efficient and mostly manufactured in China.

A $100 million grant from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is partially funding the renovation. Sila expects to begin production in January 2026, plant manager Rosendo Alvarado said.

Sila has contracts to supply Mercedes-Benz and Panasonic Energy, an electric vehicle battery producer.

It’s not the only battery-related company with big plans. Last month, Group14 Technologies was awarded a $200 million grant – also from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law – to build a silane gas plant down the street that will come with 150 jobs. Silane gas is needed to produce silicon anodes.

Yet another Moses Lake company, REC Silicon, is supplying Sila with its silane gas.

https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2024/oct/18/central-washington-faces-challenges-opportunities-/

The United States Department of the Treasury is incentivizing domestic manufacturing of critical components of the solar supply chain by clarifying that ingot and wafer production facilities and equipment qualify for the Section 48D 25% investment tax credit (ITC) under its final rules for the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 (CHIPS).

Treasury’s final rules confirm that Section 48D applies to advanced manufacturing facilities and equipment that produce semiconductors, including the slicing, etching, and bonding of semiconductor-grade polysilicon used in photovoltaics (PV) modules that begin construction before 2027. In addition, taking advantage of the 25% credit does not preclude any facilities from qualifying for other applicable tax credits.

The U.S. currently has about 45 gigawatts (GW) of domestic module manufacturing capacity online, enough to supply most of the country’s demand in 2024. The U.S. doesn’t have any commercial-scale ingot and wafer manufacturing capacity yet, but 3.3 GW of capacity is under construction. Since the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) passed a little more than two years ago, companies have collectively announced their intent to produce at least 21 GW of wafers and 10 GW of ingots.

Abigail Ross Hopper, president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), recognizes ingot and wafer production as a “critical gap” in the U.S. solar supply chain. She believes Treasury’s decision will create new opportunities for solar manufacturers and encourage upstream development.

“For the last two years, SEIA has been urging the administration to use all of the tools at its disposal to support ingot and wafer production. We commend Treasury for taking a thoughtful approach to industrial policy, helping to revitalize our communities with great-paying manufacturing jobs and boost our energy independence,” Hopper said in a statement following today’s news. “This is a win-win for businesses and our economy and will continue the manufacturing renaissance in America for years to come.”

Mike Carr, the executive director of the Solar Energy Manufacturers for America (SEMA) Coalition says he appreciates the efforts that went into Treasury’s rulemaking to support the reshoring of a full solar supply chain.

“The final 48D rules will help solar manufacturers unlock the full potential of the CHIPS and Science Act,” he predicts. “We applaud Treasury’s final CHIPS ITC rules, which clarify that domestic solar ingot and wafer manufacturers can access this landmark incentive. The Biden-Harris Administration’s efforts will drive significant investment in domestic solar ingot and wafer manufacturing capacity, currently dominated by China, help meet our economic and national security goals, and support thousands of good-paying jobs across the country.”



https://www.renewableenergyworld.com/solar/treasury-determines-solar-ingot-and-wafer-production-qualifies-for-25-tax-credit/

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/solar-energy-manufacturers-for-america-sema-coalition_today-the-us-department-of-the-treasury-activity-7254529649626542080-e52n?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_ios

REC Silicon er en av 10 av selskapene markedet har mest tro på som skal gjøre det bra fremover.

Disse aksjene har markedet mest tro på nå
DNB har tatt tempen blant aksjehandlerne. – Omtrent halvparten tror på oppgang i både norske og globale aksjer, sier Bård Kittelsrud.

«Vi ser at markedsoptimismen holder seg jevnt god, omtrent halvparten tror på oppgang i både norske og globale aksjer», sier Bård Kittelsrud, som leder aksjeteamet i DNB.


Ti på topp
I undersøkelsen ble aksjehandlerne videre spurt om hvilke selskaper de har mest tro på de neste tolv månedene.
Kongsberg Gruppen troner på topp.
Konsernet la nylig frem tallene for tredje kvartal, der det knuste forventningene til analytikerkorpset med et driftsresultat på 1,9 milliarder kroner – 250 millioner kroner bedre enn ventet.
Teknologikonsernet hadde en omsetningsvekst på 19 prosent til 11,9 milliarder kroner i tredje kvartal, mens ordreinngangen var nesten 13 milliarder kroner, mot 11,3 milliarder i samme kvartal i fjor.
Videre har aksjehandlerne pekt ut Vår Energi og Frontline som de to neste favorittene på listen, etterfulgt av Yara, DOF, Aker BP, DNB, Storebrand, Orkla og Rec Silicon.


https://www.finansavisen.no/finans/2024/10/27/8197570/disse-aksjene-har-markedet-mest-tro-pa-na

🇺🇸 𝗧𝗿𝘂𝗺𝗽 𝘄𝗶𝗻𝘀 - 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗯𝗲 𝗼𝗻 𝗰𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗹𝘆 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘀?

💡Following the results of the US election, Project Blue has examined the potential impact the Trump-Vance administration may have on critical materials and associated downstream sectors:

🔹Domestic critical material supply chains
🔹Foreign policy and trade
🔹Semiconductor markets
🔹Energy storage
🔹EV supply chains

Trump presidency: the impact on critical material supply chains
Following the preliminary results of the US election, Project Blue examines the potential impact the Trump-Vance administration may have on critical materials and associated downstream sectors. We expect some deviation from the policy platform of the Biden-Harris administration as an emboldened President Trump with a supportive Congress builds on the experience gained during his first term.

President Trump has promised a lower tax environment, including the slashing of the corporate tax rate from 21% to 15%. Combined with a hike in import tariffs, the intent is to incentivise the relocation of companies and manufacturing facilities to the USA. Under a lower tax environment, higher levels of consumption and investment should support GDP growth, with commodity demand also a beneficiary.

The offsetting outcome, however, is a reflationary environment. Inflation could partly come from higher demand as a result of lower taxes (although this is difficult to evaluate over the medium term), but price pressures would primarily be driven by higher tariffs on imported goods. Such a scenario could translate into market pricing in the form of slower Fed rate cuts or possibly a reversal of its recent monetary direction. Depending on the impact of US fiscal and trade policy on the rest of the world, a strengthening USD would be expected in almost any scenario.

Critical material supply chains in the USA

The concept of raw materials as a limiting factor in building supply chains is generally understood. The issue of where materials are sourced from and processed has become more complex as a result of recent legislation (e.g., IRA and CHIPS and Science Act) and is now set to increase in complexity with likely changes to trade policy.

President Trump intends to impose a 10% to 20% trade tariff on all imports, with Chinese imports subject to a potential 60% tariff. Estimates from Evercore ISI suggest that the average weighted import tariff was around 1.5% in 2016. Following the implementation of Trump-Pence administration tariffs, the average weighted import tariff increased to around 2.3%. However, under the currently proposed plans, the average weighted import tariff could increase to around 17.0%, potentially leading to a significant inflationary impact, which could ultimately land on the consumer.

While businesses are expected to increase CAPEX and, therefore, expand their capacity to procure raw materials and grow production under a lower tax environment, higher tariffs would push them towards sourcing domestic materials. Ideally, this should further incentivise the buildout of regional supply chains, but a high-inflation environment typically results in hesitancy to invest amid slower economic growth. It is also worth noting that for many businesses, investing in new supply chains is a strategy that would take longer than the next four years; therefore, the uncertainty around the permanence of a lower tax rate environment could also impact such decisions.

Foreign policy and trade impact on critical industries

Not only could higher inflationary pressures slow economic growth in the USA, but the proposed increase in tariffs would specifically impact China as well. There are significant global ramifications when the two largest national economies slow more than expected, directly impacting commodity demand and consumer sentiment.

Ultimately, President Trump has stated that he wants to phase out all Chinese imports of essential goods, restrict the ability of US companies to invest in China, and revoke China’s most-favoured-nation (MFN) trade status established with the WTO. If implemented, these actions would alter the global outlook, which has shifted towards unilateral protectionism in recent years, with changing trade flows and macroeconomics. China, the economy of which has been supported by export-led manufacturing in 2024, is expected to entrench further into Southeast Asia and continue to diversify its export portfolio as the USA focuses on regionalisation, which will impact trade, economics, foreign policy, and geopolitics over the next decade. However, the possibility remains that Southeast Asian countries will take advantage of low production costs to gain market share from China. Furthermore, Europe is expected to be caught between a more protectionist USA and increasing competition from China, two regions on which Europe is significantly dependent for trade. This could have a potentially greater negative impact on Europe’s economic growth and ability to deliver on green initiatives. Notably, increased regionalisation could lead to further price bifurcation between regions depending on trade flow dynamics.