Overview
- Suniva, which announced the deal Tuesday, will invest $350 million to build a 4.5 GW silicon solar cell factory in Laurens County, South Carolina, with production slated for the second quarter of 2027.
- The new site lifts Suniva’s U.S. cell capacity to about 5.5 GW, positioning the company as the nation’s largest merchant supplier of solar cells.
- The 620,000-square-foot facility is expected to create roughly 564 full-time jobs in Laurens County, a project welcomed by Governor Henry McMaster.
- The expansion seeks to ease a supply bottleneck because the U.S. has about 3.2 GW of solar cell capacity against roughly 60 to 65 GW of module assembly, which leaves many panel factories dependent on imported cells.
- Suniva says its cells will help module makers qualify for Inflation Reduction Act domestic-content bonuses as Foreign Entity of Concern rules tighten through 2027, and it reports a substantial share of output is pre-sold through 2030.