Solar

Canadian Solar doubles down on U.S. investment with 5 GW cell factory

Canadian Solar doubles down on U.S. investment with 5 GW cell factory
(Courtesy: Canadian Solar )

Canadian Solar announced plans to establish a 5 GW solar cell production facility in Indiana, doubling down on the company’s expansion into the U.S.

Solar cells produced at the Jeffersonville plant will support Canadian Solar’s planned 5 GW solar module assembly plant in Mesquite, Texas.

Canadian Solar said the cell plant represents a projected investment of more than $800 million and will create approximately 1,200 jobs once fully ramped up.

Production at the Jeffersonville facility is expected to begin by the end of 2025. The module assembly facility in Mesquite is expected to begin production by the end of 2023.

Thomas Koerner, senior vice president of Canadian Solar, said the investments, which total more than $1.2 billion, reflect the company’s focus on a local, sustainable, and clean energy supply chain,” and to fulfill the long-term requirements of the local-content rules of the Inflation Reduction Act.

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Under the Production Tax Credit (PTC), projects that meet domestic content requirements receive a 10% bonus. Under the Investment Tax Credit (ITC), projects that meet the domestic content requirement receive up to a 10-percentage point bonus. 

Projects are eligible for the full value of the bonus only if they meet the domestic content requirement and one of the following requirements: 1) the project has a maximum net output of less than 1 MW of energy; 2) construction of the project began before Jan. 29, 2023; or 3) the project satisfies the IRA’s prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements.  

Under Treasury Department guidance, the domestic content bonus applies to projects built using required amounts of domestically produced steel, iron, and manufactured products. To receive the bonus, all steel and iron manufacturing processes must take place in the United States.