As the United States prepares for the second term of the Trump administration, the solar energy industry is facing a new era of challenges and opportunities. In an interview with Solar Power World, Wilson Chang, CEO of Sunrock Distributed Generation, a solar and storage development and management platform, discussed the current trends in the solar energy market and shared his predictions on how policy changes that the new government may take will affect the industry's future.

SPW： What changes have occurred in the solar energy industry since Donald Trump's last term?
Zhang: Since the last Trump administration took office, the solar energy industry has made significant progress, and distributed solar energy has now become the most cost-effective energy source in many regions of the United States. Although policies may change, the fundamentals of the industry remain strong: efficiency is increasing, costs are decreasing, and retail energy prices continue to rise.

As the Trump administration enters its second term, the position of the US solar industry is much stronger than before. The production of solar panels in the United States is increasing, and with the rapid development of digitalization in the world, the increase in the number of electric vehicles, and Silicon Valley's relentless pursuit of creating increasingly powerful and energy consuming artificial intelligence, the demand for electricity is rapidly increasing.

According to the Solar Energy Industry Association (SEIA), in the first six months of 2024, solar energy accounted for 67% of the newly added electricity to the US grid. Thanks to incentives from the federal government, the domestic solar manufacturing industry has grown fourfold in recent years, enabling the United States to achieve its solar deployment goals through locally produced solar panels.