Glass manufacturing startup Canadian Premium Sand, which is developing a facility to make glass for solar panels in Manitoba, has entered into a memorandum of understanding with Hanwha Solutions that Hanwha will purchase glass for use at its Qcells solar panel assembly facilities in Dalton, Georgia.
Credit: CPS Youtube
“Following a tour of our planned facilities in Manitoba and meetings in Calgary with members of Hanwha’s management team in June of 2022, we are delighted to enter into an MOU with Hanwha regarding long-term supply of our low-carbon, patterned solar glass,” stated CPS president Glenn Leroux. “Hanwha’s North American solar glass demand requirements of over 3 GW of module manufacturing represents over 80% of our planned Phase 1 production capacity.”
Qcells has also already established a partnership with polysilicon producer REC Silicon based in Moses Lake, Washington, which has also locked down a U.S. silicon supply with Ferroglobe.
“As Qcells expands its manufacturing footprint in North America, we see tremendous value in securing supply from a trusted partner that is proximal to our operations. Additionally, the integrated nature of CPS’s operation with its wholly-owned sand resource and the use of renewable hydro-electricity in its manufacturing process offer excellent alignment with our low-carbon objectives,” said Hanwha reps in a press release.
CPS’s Manitoba glass manufacturing facility is not yet built. The company continues to advance other development initiatives that will bring the solar glass project to a shovel-ready status, including permitting, silica sand resource upgrading and testing and ongoing negotiations to convert other existing expressions of interest to commercial offtake agreements.
