Chinese solar panel powerhouse Trina Solar announced it will build a 1 million-sq-ft solar panel factory in Wilmer, Texas, that will have an annual manufacturing capacity of 5 GW. The company is investing more than $200 million into the site and will create 1,500 local jobs.
Credit: Trina Solar
The factory is expected to come online in 2024 and will make Trina’s large Vertex modules using the 210-mm wafer size.
Trina’s joins fellow China-dominated companies Canadian Solar and LONGi as starting 5-GW factories in the United States — the largest single-site silicon solar panel manufacturing facilities in the country.
“We have long had a vision to manufacture solar products in the United States, and we are proud of the jobs we are creating and the investment we are making in the Wilmer community,” said Steven Zhu, president of Trina Solar US. “Trina’s goal in building this facility is to begin to create an ecosystem of American manufacturing that can serve the burgeoning U.S. solar market.”
Trina has stated it will use American and European sourced polysilicon at this Texas factory.
“As someone who has lived in Texas for more than a decade, I’m proud to bring Trina’s first module factory in the Western Hemisphere to the Lone Star State,” Zhu said.
Trina Solar has been in business for over 25 years and has shipped more than 150 GW of modules globally.
