April 14 (Reuters) - U.S. solar manufacturer Suniva said on Tuesday it will invest $350 million in a South Carolina cell factory, with production starting in early 2027.
The facility will represent a substantial expansion of the United States' capacity to produce solar cells, the building blocks of solar panels that convert sunlight into electricity.
It is expected to open in the second quarter of 2027 and will create more than 550 jobs, Suniva said.
American-made solar panels and the components that
go into them are in high demand due to new U.S. policies that restrict Chinese-owned factories and companies that use their products from accessing federal clean energy tax credits.
"When it comes to solar cells, there is a dearth of those in the U.S.," Suniva President Matt Card said in an interview. "We've had a constant push from the market for more and more and more and more, and that demand has been so high that it exceeded what we could do at our current facility."
Suniva, which is based in Atlanta, was the first company to resume U.S. commercial production of silicon-based solar cells in 2024 after the industry was paused for years due to competition from low-priced imports from Asia.
The Laurens County, South Carolina, facility will mark a major increase in Suniva's manufacturing capacity, which will go from 1 GW currently to 5.5 GW once fully operational.
Without giving specifics, Card said a substantial portion of the factory's output through 2030 has been pre-sold.
The United States currently boasts just 3.2 GW of total solar cell capacity but 60 GW of module capacity, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association. That means that today, most solar cells that supply domestic module factories are imported.
Other companies operating or planning domestic cell capacity include privately-held ES Foundry in South Carolina, Hanwha Corp's Qcells in Georgia, T1 Energy in Texas and Canadian Solar in Indiana.
(Reporting by Nichola Groom; Editing by Aurora Ellis)
