Ontario-based Silfab Solar is investing $150 million in a new solar panel manufacturing plant in Fort Mill, South Carolina.
The solar panel maker is leasing a 785,000-square-foot facility that will have a yearly capacity of 1 gigawatt cell production, as well as 1.2 GW of PV solar module assembly.
The Fort Mill site will be equipped with the latest solar manufacturing technology that will produce a new line of its TOPCon PV modules, which Silfab announced last month and plans to release next year, Silfab spokesperson Geoff Atkins told Manufacturing Dive in an email.
Operations are expected to begin in Q3 of next year and create 800 jobs.
The Fort Mill site will add another location to Silfab’s presence in North America, alongside two facilities in Washington and one in Toronto, Ontario. The new South Carolina site is an ideal location to service its growing East Coast customer base, Silfab Solar President and CEO Paolo Maccario said in a statement.
“Silfab Solar continues to see strong demand for high quality U.S. solar products and selected South Carolina to better service our growing East Coast customers and further develop a vertically integrated supply chain that promotes domestic manufacturing,” Atkins said in an email.
Silfab is also expanding its presence overseas. Last month, the solar panel maker entered into a supply agreement with NorSun, a Norway-based ingot and wafer manufacturer. The company announced in August its plan to build a 5 GW ingot and wafer production facility in the U.S. and will provide Silfab with silicon wafers.
NorSun has not announced where it will build the U.S. site.
Correction: A previous version of this article misstated Geoff Atkins' title.
