Heliene expands solar module capacity with new 500 MW Minnesota plant

Heliene has opened a 500 MW solar module manufacturing line in Rogers, Minnesota, bringing its total US capacity to 1.3 GW. The facility has been operational since April.

From pv magazine USA

Heliene celebrated the grand opening of its new solar module manufacturing facility in Rogers, Minnesota, which brings the company’s US manufacturing capacity to 1.3 GW per year.

The new facility houses Minnesota Line 3, Heliene’s third US-based manufacturing line, which became operational in April and has an annual capacity of 500 MW. Heliene also owns and operates 300 MW Minnesota Line 1 and 500 MW Minnesota Line 2 at its facility in Mountain Iron, Minnesota.

“Heliene is experiencing continued demand for our high-quality, high-domestic content solar PV modules,” said Martin Pochtaruk, CEO of Heliene. “By nearly doubling our manufacturing capacity at our new Rogers, Minnesota, facility, we can continue to provide best-in-class fully domestic content products and service to our customers, while we deliver on our broader goal of onshoring US solar supply chains, by incorporating domestically-produced, cells, frames, polymers and other critical components.”

Heliene said in a statement that it is producing bifacial, high-efficiency crystalline solar modules with “the highest possible percentage of domestic content available on the market.” The company secured a number of strategic partnerships with domestic solar module component manufacturers, such as the deal it made with Suniva and Corning, enabling Heliene modules to contain 66% domestic content.

Key provisions for the US solar industry in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022 are the clean energy manufacturing and production tax credits, along with the domestic content bonus. For projects that meet domestic content requirements, developers can combine the three credits to cover as much as 50% of installed system costs.

The Rogers facility plans to hire 220 new employees to support operations, maintenance and engineering at the new facility. To support this, Heliene received $2.3 million in funding from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED), with specific funding from the Minnesota Investment Fund (MIF), Minnesota Job Creation Fund (JCF) and the Minnesota Job Skills Partnership (MJSP).

“The opening of this new manufacturing plant means high-quality solar panels will be produced in Rogers to meet increasing demand for energy across our state and throughout the country – and it will create hundreds of new jobs for the region,” said US Senator Amy Klobuchar. “I’m committed to working together to strengthen our manufacturing economy, increase affordable clean energy, and bring the jobs of the future to Minnesota.”