Module manufacturer Canadian Solar has inaugurated its first production facility in the US with a 5GW TOPCon module assembly plant.
Located in Mesquite, Texas, the project was unveiled last year with an investment of US$250 million from the Chinese manufacturer. According to a post on LinkedIn by Thomas Koerner, corporate senior vice president at Canadian Solar, the plant has 1,500 employees.
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Production of modules at the Texas plant started in the fourth quarter of 2023, with the company in the process of ramping up production to reach full nameplate capacity by the end of the year, a spokesperson from Canadian Solar told PV Tech.
Shipments from the facility had already started earlier this year when the company shipped its first US-made 700Wp TOPCon modules to solar distributor Signature Solar.
This is not the company’s only solar facility in the US. It is currently building a 5GW solar cell production facility in Jeffersonville, Indiana that aims to supply the Texas module assembly plant.
Moreover, ahead of the inauguration this week, Canadian Solar recently secured a supply agreement for its US-made bifacial TOPCon TOPBiHiKu7 modules with solar energy firm Sol Systems. However, the capacity to be supplied was not disclosed at the time. The modules are expected to support Sol Systems’ US project pipeline from 2024-25.
Earlier this week, the module manufacturer was among the top 12 manufacturers in Wood Mackenzie’s rankings, with a score of 78.5 out of 100, putting it in fourth place, behind JA Solar, Trina Solar and JinkoSolar. Among the top five Chinese manufacturers – Jinko, Trina Solar, LONGi, JA Solar and Canadian Solar – the company was among the ones that continued to keep a profit (Premium access) in the first quarter of 2024, although at a slower pace than the same period a year earlier.
During Q1 2024, the company shipped 6.3GW of solar modules, a slight increase by 200MW from the same period a year earlier, whereas in 2023, it shipped over 30GW, as shown in the chart above.
Updated on 13 June to clarify that production had already started in Q4 2023 and the plant will reach full nameplate capacity by end of 2024.
