Another Day, Another Solar Factory Opens In The US

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Everyone wants to know how the US solar industry will fare after President-elect Trump sails into office on January 20, and the Vietnamese solar firm Boviet Solar has an answer. The company already put the wheels in motion for a new 2-gigawatt, $294 million solar factory in North Carolina, which is on track to launch operations before June. They’re not exactly quaking in their boots, are they?

A New US Solar Factory Rises In North Carolina

The new solar factory is another sign of  growth and renewal in the US solar manufacturing industry. It was all but dead in the water by the early 2000s, smacked down by competition from overseas manufacturers. By the time former President Obama took office in 2009, the idea of setting up a new solar factory in the US seemed like a high-risk, no-reward exercise in futility. Just ask Solyndra, they’ll tell you.

More recently, with an assist from the renewables-friendly Biden administration the worm has turned, and the domestic solar manufacturing industry is beginning to flex its muscles.

A case in point is the new solar factory in North Carolina, now under construction in the city of Greenville in Pitt County. Earlier today Boviet announced that all the solar module manufacturing equipment for the sprawling facility is on site. With more than half of those items already installed on the factory floor, the work will be substantially done in about six weeks or so including the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing connections.

The company expects mass production for some of its solar modules to begin sometime before June, which is just around the corner. An expansion phase is already under way towards the goal of putting additional modules into mass production in the first half of 2026.

One New Solar Factory, 900 New Solar Jobs For The US

Boviet Solar has barely registered on the CleanTechnica radar over the years, though it did make a brief appearance for contributing 500,000 solar panels to the high profile Escalante Solar project in New Mexico just a few weeks ago.

The company has acquired an A-list reputation among industry insiders since launching in 2013, so we have some catching up to do. Boviet is known for its high-performing monocrystalline solar cells and bifacial solar modules with applications in the residential, commercial, industrial, and community solar fields, as well as utility-scale solar arrays. Its portfolio currently totals 3 gigawatts between its factories in the US and Vietnam. Boviet also operates in Germany as well.

Here in the US, North Carolina expects to add 900 skilled jobs to its already-flush manufacturing employment pool once the new solar factory is up and running, along reaping the rewards of economic growth.

The state’s Commerce Department sealed the deal that brought Boviet to Greenville last spring and it issued a celebratory press release to mark the occasion. “North Carolina is a leading state for STEM talent and has the largest manufacturing workforce in the southeastern United States,” explained the state’s Commerce Secretary Machelle Baker Sanders, who did not seem rattled by the prospect of another turn at the White House wheel for President-elect Trump.

“As we continue to transition to a clean energy economy, we are committed to being first in talent and providing the research and workforce training partnerships that innovative companies need for today and tomorrow,” Sanders added.

To motivate the $294 million commitment from Boviet, North Carolina chipped in some dollars from its Job Development Investment Grant pool, to the tune of $8.2 million over a 12-year period. The state expects to more than get those funds back in economic growth, estimated at $2.9 billion.

“The project’s projected return on investment of public dollars is 47 percent, meaning for every dollar of potential cost to the state, the state receives $1.47 in state revenue,” the Commerce Department explained, noting that the grant program is set up to achieve positive gains for the state treasury.

Tariffs, Tariffs, Tariffs & The US Solar Market

To one degree or another, tariffs are part of the landscape. The US solar factory of today, tomorrow, and the distant future is always going to have tariffs that help, hurt, or have no impact at all. But, that’s just one issue, and it’s a federal issue. Another issue is the growth of the US market for solar cells and modules, regardless of where they are made. In terms of state-based renewable energy policies, there have been some curious twists and turns of late.

Take Texas, for example. The state has already cemented a firm reputation for national leadership in terms of growing the solar energy generation capacity within its borders. The current crop of Republican state leadership keeps making noises about putting a crimp in that activity, but the solar boom goes on. Even if it grinds to a halt, investors have been scurrying to establish new solar manufacturing facilities in Texas that will send solar modules flying off all over the country.

The Trina Solar factory in Wilmer, Texas is a good example. The 5-gigawatt facility began churning out solar modules just a couple of months ago, in November, and it was promptly acquired by the Norwegian firm Freyr. Operation at full capacity is expected before the end of this year, and Freyr states that 30% of the output is already spoken for by domestic solar industry stakeholders.

That’s just for starters. Freyer’s plan for its US branch includes the construction of another 5-gigawatt solar factory. The site is to be determined, but the company already expects to begin work before June with the aim of launching production sometime during the second half of 2026.

“The creation of a U.S.-owned and operated company that can provide a turnkey solar technology solution is expected to solve a bottleneck for developers, create up to 1,800 direct jobs, satisfy local content requirements for U.S. solar projects, and competitively differentiate FREYR,” the company states.

As of December 24, site selection for the new factory was still under way. If you can guess where it will end up going, drop a note in the comment thread. Texas is a good guess, of course, despite all the red-state rhetoric against renewable energy.

Oklahoma is another state where the mood has soured on renewables, except when the topic turns to exporting solar hardware to other states. In 2022, for example, public officials rolled out the welcome mat for a new solar factory under the umbrella of the firm Enel. That project has been delayed, but last July state officials celebrated a deal that will bring a new $620 million, 5-gigawatt silicon ingot and solar wafer factory to the state.

“Production is anticipated to come online in 2026, making the Oklahoma facility among the first in the United States to produce high-performing silicon ingots and wafers, currently the biggest bottleneck in achieving a fully domestic solar supply chain,” declared the state’s Department of Aeronautics and Aerospace in a press statement last July.

“The Tulsa site offers an opportunity to further expand production up to 10 GW as the U.S. continues to prioritize domestic energy manufacturing,” they added for good measure.

So, just curious. If all these Republican-dominated states succeed in slowing down solar development in the US, who’s going to buy all those solar wafers, cells, and modules?

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Image: Yet another new solar factory is launching in the US, attended by hundreds of new permanent jobs and an estimated $1.9 billion in economic activity for its host state (courtesy of Boviet Solar).