Question
How can I start up a profitable solar energy company that manufactors photovoltaic panels in the USA?
Answer
Many companies have tried that between the solar startup boom of 2002-2010, not only in US, but also in Europe. There is a long list of failed solar companies (a significant chunk of them solar cell manufacturers) compiled by Greentechmedia: The Mercifully Short List of Fallen Solar Companies: 2015 Edition
Solar cell manufacturing is not a great sector to start a new business in, because the product is more-or-less commoditized. In this sector you are faced with a circular problem: you can't raise investment without showing a viable path to be competitive; you can't be competitive (on $/W, or some other objective measure of price) without scale; you can't scale without investment. Many of VC investment in solar manufacturing in the US have completely dried out after Solyndra fell, partially because of this impossible circular problem, and also because there are faster and easier money to be made elsewhere.
To solve this problem, what you can do is to come up with a wonderful technology that can achieve very high efficiency with very low cost, even before you actually scale. This is a harder problem than it sounds. Some people are putting their bets on perovskite solar cells right now, and I guess time will tell whether that technology will be viable.
(Original answered on quora: How can I start up a profitable solar energy company that manufactors photovoltaic panels in the USA?)
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