WoodMac: New domestic inverter manufacturing could meet US solar demand

The federal government recently banned new imports of foreign-made solar inverters, the devices that convert power from solar panels into electricity your home or the grid can use. The move, from the FCC, was made over national security concerns about cybersecurity and economic risk tied to relying on foreign equipment. Right now, more than 90% of the inverters used in U.S. commercial and large-scale solar projects are imported, mostly from China and other parts of East Asia. Chinese-made inverters alone made up half the U.S. market in 2024 and 2025.

A new analysis from the research firm Wood Mackenzie finds that U.S. companies have more than 100 gigawatts of new inverter manufacturing capacity planned to come online before 2028. If all of it gets built, domestic manufacturers could produce enough inverters to cover U.S. demand without relying on foreign imports.

For now, domestically made inverters cost more than imported ones, due to higher labor and manufacturing expenses. Analysts expect that gap to narrow over time as U.S. production ramps up and competition increases. There are still open questions about exactly which inverters the ban covers, especially larger equipment used in utility-scale projects, and some existing solar system owners are watching to see whether the rule could affect software updates for the inverters they already have installed. For most homeowners, this is a background shift in the solar supply chain rather than an immediate change to existing home systems.