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sciencenaturaleducation
927: Everyone Built Modules. He Built Cells. | Alex Zhu, ES Foundry
About this Episode
Rebuilding solar manufacturing in the U.S. is not just about capital or policy. It is about making the right bets at the right time.
It comes down to timing, experience, and the critical decisions.
Alex Zhu has spent nearly two decades inside the global solar manufacturing system—from the early rise of Chinese production to failed U.S. factory attempts, and now to building one of the few solar cell manufacturing facilities in America through ES Foundry.
In this conversation, Alex explains why he focused on solar cells instead of modules. Module assembly scaled quickly after the IRA. Cell manufacturing remained limited, even though it sits at the center of the supply chain. But that gap is precisely where Alex recognized his greatest strength.
Experience.
But the ensuing decisions (bets) he made carry real risk.
He is betting that the U.S. cannot sustain a domestic solar industry without cell production. He is also building on proven PERC technology, even as the global market moves toward TOPCon. And he is relying on speed, execution, and hard-won experience to make that strategy work.
We also get into how his past shaped these decisions, what has changed since earlier U.S. factory failures, how the IRA shifted the economics, and what it actually takes to build a factory, from permitting and infrastructure to workforce and community impact.
Expect to learn:
🔹 Why solar cells—not modules—are the real constraint in U.S. manufacturing
🔹 How Alex’s past factory experience shaped his strategy today
🔹 Why ES Foundry chose PERC, and how he thinks about the shift to TOPCon
🔹 What family office investors understood about this opportunity
🔹 What it really takes to build—and sustain—a solar factory in the U.S.
This is a bet on how the industry gets rebuilt. Listen and decide if you agree.
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Hosts & Guests
No transcript available for this episode.
