Factbox: Chinese-owned solar factories in the United States

JinkoSolar Holding

17/07/2024 11:00

July 17 (Reuters) - Some of the largest Chinese solar
panel makers are setting up shop in the United States thanks to
new clean energy manufacturing subsidies contained in President
Joe Biden's 2022 Inflation Reduction Act.
    Here is a list of Chinese companies investing in U.S. solar
equipment factories: 

ILLUMINATE USA
Illuminate is a joint venture between Chinese solar equipment
maker Longi  601012.SS  and U.S. clean energy project developer
Invenergy. The company started producing solar panels at a
five-gigawatt plant in Pataskala, Ohio in February. It aims to
be at full capacity by the end of 2024 and will employ 1,000
workers. Illuminate said it is investing $600 million in
equipment, raw materials, salaries and staff training and is
evaluating whether to expand into cell manufacturing.    
    
TRINA SOLAR
Trina  688599.SS  is spending $200 million on a five-GW solar
module plant in Wilmer, Texas that will start production this
year. The factory will create 1,500 jobs. Trina, which has been
supplying panels to the U.S. market for nearly two decades, is
also in the final stages of selecting a location for a five-GW
U.S. cell factory that would supply its Texas plant. 
    
JINKO SOLAR      
Jinko  JKS.N  opened a 400-megawatt panel factory in
Jacksonville, Florida in 2018. The company told city officials
last year that it planned to spend $52 million to triple its
current capacity and create an additional 250 jobs by the end of
2026. Jinko held an expansion ceremony in April, at which
company executives announced that the plant would soon employ
600 people. 
        
JA SOLAR
JA Solar  002459.SZ  is spending $60 million on a two-GW panel
plant in Phoenix, Arizona, the company said last year. The
factory is expected to create more than 600 jobs and start
production this year. 
        
RUNERGY
Runergy is building a five-GW solar module plant in Huntsville,
Alabama in a factory previously occupied by a DVD manufacturer.
The company said the factory will create 800 jobs and will begin
shipping products to customers this summer. Runergy is
considering additional manufacturing investments in the United
States that would add an additional 1,500 jobs. 
    
BOVIET SOLAR
Boviet will invest $294 million in solar cell and module
factories in Greenville, North Carolina. The two-GW module plant
is expected to start production in the first quarter of 2025 in
a plant formerly used to make automotive components. Boviet
plans to build a new factory to produce two GW of cells that
will start production in 2026. The investments are expected to
create 908 jobs. Founded in Vietnam in 2013, Boviet was acquired
by China's Boway Alloy  601137.SS  in 2016.
        
HOUNEN SOLAR
Hounen Solar is investing $33 million in a one-GW factory in
Orangeburg, South Carolina that will create 200 jobs.           
            

 (Reporting by Nichola Groom; Editing by Rod Nickel)
 ((nichola.groom@thomsonreuters.com;))