Dive Brief:
- JA Solar announced it leased space for its first U.S.-based photovoltaic panel manufacturing site last week.
- The $60 million facility in Phoenix, Arizona will produce high-efficiency PV panels for commercial and residential rooftops, as well as utility-scale solar power plants, according to the release.
- The plant is expected to be complete by Q4 2023. Once fully operational, the company said it will be the largest PV panel manufacturing site in the state, reaching a production capacity of 2 GW per year.
Dive Insight:
The China-based manufacturer aims to make its PV panels more accessible to U.S. consumers by bringing its production closer to clients.
“We are very excited to be able to set up the first U.S. solar module manufacturing facility in Arizona to provide our customers in the U.S. the flexibility and ease of access to JA Solar’s high-performance PV products,” President of JA Solar Aiqing Yang said in a statement.
The move builds on a spate of clean energy announcements throughout the state. Last month, American Battery Factory named Tuscon, Arizona home to its first large-scale battery production facility, while battery maker Sion Power said it would expand production at an existing site in the city.
Other foreign solar manufacturing companies are also moving to the U.S. Italy-based Enel is currently in the process of choosing a site for a PV panel production plant, with construction slated to begin later this year.
“Solar is a critical part of renewable energy and we are thrilled to be a part of the effort to meet the goal of carbon neutrality by 2050 in the U.S.,” Yang said.
To advance this goal, the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act makes available an estimated $30 billion in clean energy tax credits for resources including solar and wind energy and battery storage.
