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Corning, Suniva and Heliene join forces to produce what will be the first polysilicon solar module, wafers and cells manufactured in the United States. The agreement announced by Suniva, Corning and Heliene is intended to ease the challenge of finding domestically produced solar modules, as Helienes modules will have 66% domestic content, the company reports. Key provisions for the U.S. solar industry in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022 are the clean energy manufacturing and production tax credits, along with the domestic content credit. For projects that meet the domestic content requirements, developers can combine all three credits to cover up to 50% of the installed system costs. While the domestic content bonus is an important boost to the development of the U.S. solar supply chain, manufacturing has been slow to ramp up, leaving solar project developers struggling to find solar products made entirely in the United States. Corning will manufacture the polysilicon wafers from Michigan-based Hemlock Semiconductor (HSC). A year ago, Corning announced it would begin construction of a $900 million manufacturing plant in Saginaw County, Michigan, where its subsidiary, Solar Technology LLC, would produce polysilicon ingots and wafers for the solar industry. “At Corning, we are excited to leverage our advanced manufacturing expertise to deliver the highest quality solar components and secure the U.S. energy supply chain,” said AB Ghosh, vice president and general manager of Corning Solar Technologies and president and CEO of Hemlock Semiconductor. In 2023, Suniva announced plans to restart its idled Norcross, Georgia, plant, which was operating at about 450 MW of production capacity at the time of its closure in 2017. The company went out of business, claiming at the time that it could not compete with low-cost Chinese imports. Suniva now credits subsidies contained within the IRA for its ability to restart the idled plant, which the company said had a planned capacity of 1 GW and will eventually scale to 2.5 GW per year. “Together, our companies offer the only solar cell on the market that provides U.S. developers with the ultimate ITC domestic content advantage, while creating a domestic supply chain that ensures U.S. energy independence and a strong manufacturing base,” said Matt Card, President of Suniva. Heliene has been manufacturing solar modules in Ontario, Canada, since 2010 and in Mountain Iron, Minnesota, since 2018. In October 2024, the company announced the closing of a strategic capital investment of up to $54 million to support expansion. “This partnership is a significant milestone for the U.S. solar industry,” said Martin Pochtaruk, CEO of Heliene. “By combining our strengths, we can deliver not only a high-performance module, but also support the domestic economy and American job creation.” |
