Solar Module Super League (SMSL) member JA Solar is planning to build its first module manufacturing facility in the US.
Located in Phoenix, Arizona, the factory will have an annual production capacity of 2GW once fully operational.
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JA Solar has already leased the space for the plant construction, which is expected to be operational by Q4 2023 and create over 600 jobs.
With a US$60 million investment, the new facility will use an automated assembly line to produce solar PV modules for all market segments, from commercial and residential rooftops to utility-scale solar power plants.
Neither JA Solar nor the Arizona Commerce Authority disclosed the size and type of modules the manufacturer will be producing at the site. In China, the company started last October the production and delivery of its new n-type modules.
“We are very excited to be able to set up the first US solar module manufacturing facility in Arizona to provide our customers in the US the flexibility and ease of access to JA Solar’s high-performance PV products,” said Aiqing Yang, president of JA Solar.
Since the Inflation Reduction Act was signed in August 2022, new announcements of domestic manufacturing have kept coming in the US, with more than 22GW of domestic module and cell manufacturing plans revealed. Qcells this week said it will invest US$2.5 billion to establish an ingot, wafer, cell and module supply chain in the US state of Georgia.
Heterojunction cell and module manufacturer Meyer Burger also plans to build a 1.6GW solar module manufacturing facility in the state of Arizona.
Outside the US, JA Solar recently announced plans to expand its integrated PV cell manufacturing capacity in China by 20GW.
This article has been updated from a previous version that incorrectly stated the facility Meyer Burger was building in Arizona would have an annual capacity of 400MW instead of 1.6GW.