Cambodia-headquartered solar panel manufacturer New East Solar Energy (NE Solar), the company the US Department of Commerce found guilty of circumventing trade tariffs, has announced plans to invest in US PV manufacturing.
NE Solar was one of the companies named as offenders, along with BYD Hong Kong, Canadian Solar, Trina Solar and LONGi's Vina Solar, in the US authority's final determination for solar tariff circumvention inquiry into imported Chinese modules (see US Circumvention Investigation Comes To A Close).
According to local media reports, NE Solar plans to set up a 2 GW solar panel manufacturing fab in Phoenix, Arizona. It has already finalized the building. Scheduled to come online in late Q2/2024, it will cater to the commercial- and utility-scale segments.
Needless to say, the US fab will help it mitigate import issues and trade tariffs. It will also enable the company to streamline its supply chain and strengthen its market presence in one of the world's largest solar markets.
At the same time, the management cites Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) acting as a catalyst for this investment that's likely to create around 350 new jobs.
NE Solar CEO Bill Huang said this fab will take its total manufacturing capacity to 6.7 GW, including its existing facilities in Indonesia and Cambodia. In February 2023, NE Solar said that it is expanding its Indonesian operations with 8 GW of cells and modules. Phase I with 2.5 GW modules and supporting cell capacity is scheduled to be commissioned by late Q3/2023, to be followed by an additional 5.5 GW in 2024.