Explainer: Five States Lead On Solar And Wind Manufacturing. Here’s why.

In the seven years ending in 2024, 118 solar manufacturing projects were announced nationwide, amounting to $26 billion in investments, according to an analysis of Cipher’s Cleantech Tracker. In the same period, 28 wind manufacturing projects were announced worth $5 billion.

Texas, New York, Georgia, Ohio and New Mexico — in that order — have together attracted nearly half of all those manufacturing dollars.

Each of the top five states also has particular advantages boosting its manufacturing efforts, according to experts interviewed for this article:

• Texas has abundant solar and wind resources and a hands-off regulatory environment.
• New York has robust climate and clean energy goals supported by state policies and is striving to be a leader in offshore wind.
• Georgia has a history of state support for solar development and has attracted some solar manufacturing pioneers, like Qcells.
• Ohio has high wind-energy potential and early pioneers in solar manufacturing, like First Solar, which has set up shop there.
• New Mexico has strong solar resources and is next to sunny Arizona, which boasts its own solar manufacturing industry.

But some of the projects benefiting from this notable money flow could be in jeopardy. The recent surge in clean energy manufacturing “didn’t happen in a vacuum,” explained Lynn Abramson, president of the Clean Energy Business Network. “It was spurred in part by major federal investments through tax credits, grants and loan authority enacted over the past 2.5 years on the heels of decades of bipartisan support.”

Now, though, the Trump administration has pulled back funding for clean energy and climate projects passed under the Biden administration and called for Congress to cut clean energy provisions in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, President Joe Biden’s signature climate law. And tariffs imposed by the current administration could raise costs for manufacturers.

“This is a very challenging environment for businesses and investors to operate in,” Abramson said.

Last week, clean energy companies sent a letter to lawmakers asking them to preserve the IRA tax credits.

Announced investments in solar and wind manufacturing reached $31 billion by the end of 2024. Of that total, $3.72 billion were invested in Texas, $3.53 billion in New York, $3.37 billion in Georgia, $2.23 billion in Ohio and $2.21 billion in New Mexico, according to Cipher’s analysis of data from the Clean Investment Monitor, a project of Rhodium Group and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research. Together, these states account for roughly 48% of all investments.

New clean-energy manufacturing tends to cluster in places that already have existing manufacturing, as those places already have proven resources like state incentives, job training at community colleges, a solid logistical network for shipping and delivering products and other conditions that make it easier for new projects to get off the ground, said MJ Shiao, vice president of supply chain and manufacturing at the American Clean Power Association.

“Once a few pioneers in an emerging industry take root in a new location, related companies tend to begin clustering there,” Abramson said.

Wind components, such as blades and nacelles, tend to be manufactured close to where they are going to be installed, or near ports or other transportation hubs, because they are so large and unwieldy, according to experts interviewed for this article.

At number one on the list, Texas has 18 solar manufacturing projects, nearly all of which were either operational or under construction by the end of 2024. The state has also built a lot of solar and wind farms, and last year led the country in electricity generation from renewable sources. However, the Texas legislature is currently considering several bills that critics say could stifle continued growth of renewables if passed. (Texas is a leader in all kinds of energy, including oil and natural gas.)

New York’s place at number two on the list stands out as a Democratic state, since Republican-led states have been attracting the lion’s share of new clean energy manufacturing dollars. New York had more wind manufacturing facilities announced in the last seven years (eight facilities) than any other state, according to Cipher’s analysis.

But the offshore wind industry has faced economic and supply-chain challenges in recent years, leading to concerns that some of the manufacturing projects announced or under construction may not be completed. The Trump administration is also particularly hostile toward the wind industry.

Geopolitics could also affect the fortunes of these five states. The global nature of the supply chain means the U.S. depends on other countries for the component parts that go into pretty much everything domestic renewables manufacturers assemble, said Shiao.

In late April, the U.S. Department of Commerce proposed steep tariffs on solar cells and modules imported from Southeast Asian countries, injecting more uncertainty into the sector. Industry insiders are split on whether the move will help or harm domestic solar manufacturers, which have struggled to compete with imported products, according to PV Magazine.

How well the projects in each state fare in the current political climate could depend in part on the diversity of their sources of demand, said Abramson. Manufacturing facilities supplying products to a wide range of customers across multiple markets may be better able to weather the uncertainty, she noted.

“The demand for solar and wind remain strong, both in the U.S. and globally,” Abramson said. “The continued growth of these industries is inevitable — it’s just a question of how quickly, with how many starts and stops, and how many companies going under.”