Powering Solar’s Next Chapter

John Beaver, CFO of Highland Materials, brings a unique perspective to solar manufacturing after living through two distinct cleantech eras. Following 25 years in the chemical industry, Beaver first entered solar in 2009 as CFO of Silicor Materials, scaling from 40 to 450 employees in 18 months while proving metallurgical-grade silicon could produce high-quality solar cells. "We ended up making 20 million solar cells. Really proved out the concept that we could use a metallurgical grade silicon versus electronic grade silicon to make high-quality solar cells," Beaver explains. After weathering policy headwinds and Chinese oversupply that shuttered their plans, Beaver spent years in dental lasers before returning to solar silicon at Highland Materials. Now he believes the tipping point has arrived. The big question: Can domestic manufacturing finally compete with China's 95% market control?