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Excelsior and Heliene enter 2 GW supply agreement for domestic solar panels

Excelsior and Heliene enter 2 GW supply agreement for domestic solar panels
An inspection station at the exit of the stringers before moving to the lay out station at Heliene's Mountain Iron Facility (Credit: Heliene)

Excelsior Energy Capital, a renewable energy infrastructure investor, announced that it has entered a multiyear agreement to acquire 2.0 GW of photovoltaic modules from Heliene, a North American manufacturer of solar energy equipment.

As part of the long-term supply agreement, the two companies expect to work as partners. A majority of the PV modules supplied by Heliene will be produced in the United States.

The photovoltaic (PV) modules supplied under the agreement will be primarily produced at the existing Heliene manufacturing headquarters in Mountain Iron, Minnesota, and at a new factory the company plans to lease in the Greater Minneapolis-St. Paul area.

“The Excelsior team is excited by the wide-ranging benefits of this new agreement, which materially de-risks the supply of PV modules for our projects and allows us to work collaboratively alongside an established industry player as they expand and innovate over time,” said Chris Frantz, Partner at Excelsior.

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“Heliene is proud to formalize our supply arrangement with Excelsior as we continue building on a period of tremendous growth, both for our company and for the domestic solar industry as a whole,” said Martin Pochtaruk, CEO at Heliene. “Our team is grateful to work with such a high-value customer, and we are excited by the ways this agreement will help expand the use of our American-made, high-quality, and reliable solar technologies.”

Last month, solar cell manufacturer Suniva announced a three-year strategic sourcing contract with Heliene that will ultimately produce the first “made in the U.S.A.” PV module eligible for domestic tax credits under the Inflation Reduction Act.

Under the terms of the contract, Heliene will incorporate Suniva’s U.S.-made solar cells into its U.S.-made solar modules, with market availability beginning in mid-2024. Heliene’s modules will be the first crystalline solar modules with a U.S.-made solar cell. Currently, all U.S.-made solar crystalline modules use only imported cells.

Suniva, which portends to be the largest and oldest U.S. manufacturer of high-efficiency monocrystalline silicon solar cells, has been inoperative since 2017. The company announced a restart of its manufacturing operations in Georgia last fall.

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