Fig. 1: Greenhouse gas emissions of crystalline silicon photovoltaic (PV) panel supplies to the U.S., with the breakdown of climate change impacts of each individual manufacturing stage and transportation.

Results are presented for (a) single-crystalline silicon (sc-Si) PV in offshore cases, (b) sc-Si PV in reshored scenarios, (c) ribbon silicon (r-Si) in offshore cases, (d) r-Si in reshored scenarios, (e) multi-crystalline silicon (mc-Si) in offshore cases, as well as (f) mc-Si in reshored scenarios. Reshored manufacturing scenarios in (b, d, and f) illustrate the downward climate change impact trend over time, whereas offshore manufacturing cases in (a, c, and e) do not guarantee climate change mitigation over time, as illustrated by the higher emissions in 2015 than in 2010 in some regions. To study the impact of reshoring in 2020, we compare the 2020 case and the 2020 scenario. The sources of PV supplies in the 2020 case include China, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, as shown in (a, c, and e). The PV panels in the 2020 scenario are only manufactured in the U.S., as shown in (b, d, and f). We see a reduction of 23% global warming potential from PV panel manufacturing on average as a result of reshoring.