Some of the largest Chinese solar panel makers are setting up shop in the United States thanks to new clean energy manufacturing subsidies contained in President Joe Biden’s 2022 Inflation Reduction Act.
Here is a list of Chinese companies investing in U.S. solar equipment factories:
Illuminate USA
Illuminate is a joint venture between Chinese solar equipment maker Longi and U.S. clean energy project developer Invenergy. The company started producing solar panels at a five-gigawatt plant in Pataskala, Ohio in February. It aims to be at full capacity by the end of 2024 and will employ 1,000 workers. Illuminate said it is investing $600 million in equipment, raw materials, salaries and staff training and is evaluating whether to expand into cell manufacturing.
Trina Solar
Trina is spending $200 million on a five-GW solar module plant in Wilmer, Texas that will start production this year. The factory will create 1,500 jobs. Trina, which has been supplying panels to the U.S. market for nearly two decades, is also in the final stages of selecting a location for a five-GW U.S. cell factory that would supply its Texas plant.
Jinko Solar
Jinko opened a 400-megawatt panel factory in Jacksonville, Florida in 2018. The company told city officials last year that it planned to spend $52 million to triple its current capacity and create an additional 250 jobs by the end of 2026. Jinko held an expansion ceremony in April, at which company executives announced that the plant would soon employ 600 people.
JA Solar
JA Solar is spending $60 million on a two-GW panel plant in Phoenix, Arizona, the company said last year. The factory is expected to create more than 600 jobs and start production this year.
Runergy
Runergy is building a five-GW solar module plant in Huntsville, Alabama in a factory previously occupied by a DVD manufacturer. The company said the factory will create 800 jobs and will begin shipping products to customers this summer. Runergy is considering additional manufacturing investments in the United States that would add an additional 1,500 jobs.
Boviet Solar
Boviet will invest $294 million in solar cell and module factories in Greenville, North Carolina. The two-GW module plant is expected to start production in the first quarter of 2025 in a plant formerly used to make automotive components. Boviet plans to build a new factory to produce two GW of cells that will start production in 2026. The investments are expected to create 908 jobs. Founded in Vietnam in 2013, Boviet was acquired by China’s Boway Alloy in 2016.
Hounen Solar
Hounen Solar is investing $33 million in a one-GW factory in Orangeburg, South Carolina that will create 200 jobs.
(Reporting by Nichola Groom; Editing by Rod Nickel)
