The accelerated expansion of solar photovoltaic (PV) adoption in the U.S. has resulted in a significant reliance on international supply chains. This study conducts a comprehensive port-level network analysis of U.S. solar PV module imports to investigate the supply chain resilience and highlight its key vulnerabilities. Utilizing trade data from U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) for the period 2019-2024, a directed network was established consisting of 177 trade relations connecting 30 exporting countries to 55 U.S. ports, reflecting a total trade value of $80.225 billion. The study results show a considerable concentration risk within the PV module supply chain, where Malaysia, Vietnam, and Thailand dominate the export, and Los Angeles, New York, and Houston-Galveston together manage around 50% of all PV module imports. Centrality analysis revealed that Cleveland and New York have the highest in-degree centrality, demonstrating their vital role as key entrance points. The use of the Infomap algorithm for community detection recognized 34 unique communities, indicating significant imbalances in the distribution of imports that favor major hubs. Lastly, resilience evaluation using disruption simulation uncovers significant vulnerabilities where excluding Los Angeles alone causes a 24.9% reduction in total U.S. PV module imports, whereas the removals of New York and Houston-Galveston result in losses of 13.5% and 12.4%, respectively. This research makes three key contributions: it extends network-based methods to incorporate renewable energy supply chains with port-level analysis; it develops a replicable approach for quantitative resilience evaluation; and it delivers actionable insights to inform energy security policy and infrastructure planning.
Port-Level Network and Resilience Analysis of the Solar PV Module Import Supply Chain in the United States
33 views
6 Downloads