The decades-old solar tracker veteran shared insights on manufacturing localization planning in the U.S and beyond.
The Bloomberg New York Summit, which was held and live-streamed from New York, USA, took place on April 19th and 20, 2022. Arctech, the world’s leading provider of tracking, racking, and BIPV solutions, shared comments on hot topics such as onshore manufacturing strategies in global markets and how they plan to increase their presence in the Latam area.
The BNEF Summit is a well-respected event that provides the insights, connections, and ideas to help you formulate effective strategies in the complex energy spectrum. Bloomberg reported that renewable sources accounted for 80% of the new U.S. generating capacity in 2021. With declining costs and an influx of investors equipped with ESG mandates, it seems that renewables are on a steady upward trend.
On the flipside, in 2020, the concern that the supply of solar modules, wind turbines, and batteries to the U.S. relied too heavily offshore rose to the top of the institutional agenda. A renewed sense of urgency for onshore manufacturing became apparent in Washington D.C., as solar, wind, and batteries are already critical to energy markets, economic growth, and U.S. climate ambitions, and in other regions, the similar onshore manufacturing is supported, so what opportunities does it open up, and what are the challenges?
In the interview with Bloomberg NEF, Jesse Lau, VP of Global Business & Services at Arctech shared his take on expanding the global supply chain.
“Since last year, we have witnessed the rise of raw steel pricing globally and also because trackers are mostly structures, you know made by like steels, and all we’re seeing is the logistic price rising. We see the challenges posed by raw materials as well as shipping. So, you know to tackle those challenges. I think what Arctech plans to do is to have our own factories, not only in China but expand our presence and manufacturing capabilities globally. So last year, we have close to finishing the JV factory in India, which will not only supply for local projects but also to different projects overseas. In the meantime, we’re actually seeking the possibility to join hands with a local developer here in the US to set up a local manufacturing base, you know boosted by the acts of the US to incentivize the local manufacturing. Besides, we’re expanding our capability of sourcing OEM capabilities and capacities globally like in Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Latin America, Brazil, you know, Argentina, etc. All those actions will serve the purpose of ensuring the landing costs make sense to our clients.”
Another focus of the summit is that Latin America’s energy markets took to the comeback trail in 2021. The economic rebound restored electricity demand to pre-pandemic levels and revived clean energy activity. Reverse auctions for power-delivery contracts returned, investment recovered and new wind and solar builds set records.
“One of our most growing markets is definitely Latin America. We entered Latin America, like long ago, starting in Mexico. Right now, we’ve covered all over Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Brazil, Argentina, etc. We have seen the great potential and will strengthen our local presence in the region with our local team providing engineering, manufacturing, and after-sales support for Arctech’s local operation in the Latam region, with an intention to source materials for its tracking systems from within the region in response to the favorable policies.” Remarked Jesse Lau.
To find out more about the company Arctech and its upfront solar tracker technology, please watch the full episode on Arctech’s YouTube channel: https: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipChmxTgH5o
