Indian solar manufacturer Rayzon Solar has announced plans to set up a 500MW solar module factory in the US and expand its existing Indian production capacity by a further 1GW.
The move will make Rayzon the first Indian solar company to set up manufacturing operations in the US, the company said. Currently, its Indian operations have an annual capacity of 1.5GW, which the company intends to increase to 2.5GW. A timeframe is yet to be announced.
The company confirmed on its social media channels that the US facility will produce tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) modules.
Last month, SEG Solar completed the acquisition of a 2GW TOPCon manufacturing plant in Texas and PV startup Carbon spoke to PV Tech Premium recently about its plans for 3.5GW of TOPCon production in France. The technology is becoming more and more prevalent across the industry as companies begin to scale it and replace tried-and-tested passivated emitter/rear cell (PERC) technology.
A report from Clean Energy Associates earlier this month found that the US is forecast to pay the highest market prices for solar modules in the world, and that even as PERC phases out and TOPCon becomes more readily available, the new technology will remain at a premium in the US. This is due to the lead time on TOPCon facilities being established and the drop in PERC price as manufacturers eventually look to shift it at a discount.
Both the US and India have been engaged in trying to build out their manufacturing bases and attract solar companies to their shores. Rayzon’s move speaks to a growing confidence in the future of the US solar market in light of the Inflation Reduction Act’s (IRA) incentives for manufacturing and deployment. As of December last year, three months after the IRA passed into law, 22GW worth of US module and cell manufacturing plans had been announced.
Since then, companies like JA Solar and Qcells have made significant US capacity announcements.
PV Tech publisher Solar Media will be organising the second edition of PV ModuleTech US in Napa, California, during 6-7 June. The conference will address the module landscape that is expected to unfold for U.S. buyers in the coming years; in particular new domestic manufacturing. More information, including how to attend, can be read here.