Dive Brief:
- Vietnam-based Boviet Solar will invest more than $294 million in its first North American solar panel manufacturing site in Greenville, North Carolina, according to an April 26 announcement.
- Phase one of the project will utilize the existing building to manufacture solar modules followed by phase two, which includes constructing a 500,000 to 600,000-square-foot PV cells factory.
- The solar panel facilities will create 908 new jobs and are set to open by Q1 of next year. The factories expect to have a combined output of two gigawatts of solar panels and two gigawatts of photovoltaic cells annually.
Dive Insight:
Founded in 2013 with sales mainly in the U.S. market, Boviet Solar’s Greenville facility will be the company’s second, with the other located in Vietnam.
The solar manufacturer is one of two major Vietnam-based companies to recently set up shop in North Carolina. Last July, electric vehicle startup VinFast broke ground on the $2 billion initial phase of its automotive assembly and battery manufacturing plant in New Hill.
Boviet Solar’s investment adds to the state’s reputation for solar. North Carolina ranks fourth for having the most installed solar capacity with 39 solar manufacturing companies operating there, according to Q4 2023 data from the Solar Energy Industries Association. The state follows California, Texas and Florida.
The investment by a foreign company that also imports into the U.S., however, comes as several major U.S.-based solar manufacturers are calling out unfair import practices in the industry.
In April, an alliance of seven solar manufacturers filed a petition asking for antidumping and countervailing duties to be imposed on crystalline silicon solar cells imported to the U.S. from countries like China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Cambodia and Thailand.
The issue has led to a “collapse of global solar panel prices” by more than 50% in the past year, the petition claims.
First Solar, Qcells and Mission Solar are among those to have signed the petition to the U.S. International Trade Commission and the Department of Commerce so far. Final determinations of dumping, subsidization and injury are likely occur in spring 2025.
