Excelsior Energy Capital, a renewable energy infrastructure investor, has inked a multiyear agreement to buy 2 GW of solar modules from Heliene. A majority of the panels supplied by Heliene are expected to be manufactured in the United States. They will primarily be produced at an existing Heliene factory in Mountain Iron, Minnesota and at a new factory the company plans to build in the Greater Minneapolis-St. Paul area.
This agreement will help Excelsior significantly reduce supply chain risks as importing modules can sometimes come with shipping delays, along with tariff and other trade-related risks. Meanwhile, for the Canada-headquartered Heliene, this is a significant deal as the company announced its plans to expand in the US last year.
As per the company’s August 2023 announcement, Heliene plans to produce 1 GW of solar modules and 1.5 GW of solar cells at its new facility in Minneapolis – St. Paul region. The new factory is expected to start manufacturing modules in 2024 and cells in 2025. The company intends to invest around $145 million in the new facility, which will be the company’s first investment in the cells space. It has received $5 million in equity and $150 million in credit from Orion Infrastructure Capital for the new facility.
REGlobal’s Views: The global solar supply chains have witnessed one disruption after the next owing to first the pandemic and then upheavals in commodity markets, rise in logistics costs as well as recent Red Sea shipping crisis. Thus, many developers are now looking at solar modules that are made by domestic manufacturers to secure their supplies. Meanwhile, manufacturers in important solar markets including the United States, are expanding their production capacities.
