Heliene expands Minnesota TOPCon module line to 300MW

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Reddit
Email
Heliene’s production in Minnesota, which it plans to expand further in the coming year. Credit: Heliene, Inc.

Canadian solar PV module manufacturer Heliene has doubled the capacity of its Mountain Iron, Minnesota module production line to 300MW following an extra US$10 million investment into the facility.

With this expansion to one of its original manufacturing lines – which was first installed in 2018 – Heliene will now be able to produce n-type tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) solar modules. It will also improve the efficiency of production, the company said. The line is located contiguous with another, 500MW production line, which brings the total capacity of the Mountain Iron facility to 800MW.

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Unlock unlimited access for 12 whole months of distinctive global analysis

Photovoltaics International is now included.

  • Regular insight and analysis of the industry’s biggest developments
  • In-depth interviews with the industry’s leading figures
  • Unlimited digital access to the PV Tech Power journal catalogue
  • Unlimited digital access to the Photovoltaics International journal catalogue
  • Access to more than 1,000 technical papers
  • Discounts on Solar Media’s portfolio of events, in-person and virtual

Or continue reading this article for free

In September, Heliene secured US$170 million to expand its manufacturing capacity with two 300MW lines, of which this is the first.

This is another step along Heliene’s path to expand its operations in Minnesota. In addition to this now-800MW site, and earlier this year it announced plans to invest around US$145 million in a 1.5GW/1GW TOPCon cell and module production facility in the US state.

On the announcement of the most recent capacity expansion, CEO of Heliene Martin Pochtaruk said: “We’re proud to be delivering on our commitment to grow our US-based manufacturing capacity and create new clean energy jobs with the refurbishment of Minnesota Line One.

“Recent funding and federal incentives are helping us grow our facilities and workforce to keep up with historically high demand for domestically produced solar PV modules.”

On the topic of US domestic module production, Pochtaruk spoke with PV Tech Premium in July about the domestic content proposals for solar manufacturing under the IRA, which would introduce a 10% extra tax credit for projects that deploy domestically-made products. The threshold for ‘domestically made’ calls for a cost-based calculation whereby 40% of an asset’s component value must be produced in the US, rising to 55% in 2026. This, according to Pochtaruk, presents a challenge to the majority of US-based manufacturers, as around half of the cost of a PV module comes from the cell, and cell production in the US is yet to find its feet.

In addition to its capacity expansions, Heliene signed a 1.5GW supply agreement with US community solar developer Nexamp in September to supply the latter’s community solar projects over the next five years. Heliene said that the supply would come from its Minnesota TOPCon production facilities to supply around 400 community solar projects across the US.

7 October 2025
San Francisco Bay Area, USA
PV Tech has been running an annual PV CellTech Conference since 2016. PV CellTech USA, on 7-8 October 2025 is our third PV CellTech conference dedicated to the U.S. manufacturing sector. The events in 2023 and 2024 were a sell out success and 2025 will once again gather the key stakeholders from PV manufacturing, equipment/materials, policy-making and strategy, capital equipment investment and all interested downstream channels and third-party entities. The goal is simple: to map out PV manufacturing in the U.S. out to 2030 and beyond.
21 October 2025
New York, USA
Returning for its 12th edition, Solar and Storage Finance USA Summit remains the annual event where decision-makers at the forefront of solar and storage projects across the United States and capital converge. Featuring the most active solar and storage transactors, join us for a packed two-days of deal-making, learning and networking.
25 November 2025
Warsaw, Poland
Large Scale Solar Central and Eastern Europe continues to be the place to leverage a network that has been made over more than 10 years, to build critical partnerships to develop solar projects throughout the region.
16 June 2026
Napa, USA
PV Tech has been running PV ModuleTech Conferences since 2017. PV ModuleTech USA, on 16-17 June 2026, will be our fifth PV ModulelTech conference dedicated to the U.S. utility scale solar sector. The event will gather the key stakeholders from solar developers, solar asset owners and investors, PV manufacturing, policy-making and and all interested downstream channels and third-party entities. The goal is simple: to map out the PV module supply channels to the U.S. out to 2027 and beyond.

Read Next

June 30, 2025
US clean energy developer Clearway Energy Group has received corporate credit facilities over US$1 billion.
June 30, 2025
Australian module manufacturer Tindo Solar has secured a 30MW solar module supply agreement to power Australia's first "net zero pipeline”.
June 27, 2025
Indian solar manufacturer Premier Energies has commissioned its 1.2GW TOPCon solar cell manufacturing line at Fab City, Hyderabad, Telangana.
June 27, 2025
Renewables investment platform Nexwell Power has signed a round of power purchase agreements (PPAs) with “one of the largest” US tech companies for solar PV capacity to be built in Spain.
Premium
June 27, 2025
PV Talk: '2024 was a transformational year in terms of energy policy,' says Monika Paplaczyk ahead of this year's Clean Power 2030 Summits.
June 26, 2025
A round-up of news from the US solar sector this week, including Akuo, Meta and RWE.

Subscribe to Newsletter

Upcoming Events

Upcoming Webinars
June 30, 2025
10am PST / 6pm BST
Solar Media Events
July 1, 2025
London, UK
Solar Media Events
July 1, 2025
London, UK
Media Partners, Solar Media Events
July 2, 2025
Bangkok, Thailand
Media Partners, Solar Media Events
September 2, 2025
Mexico City, Mexico