OCI plans to establish a 2 GW solar cell manufacturing plant in the US by 2026
It will use UFLPA-compliant polysilicon from its Malaysian subsidiary to avoid Chinese imports
It abandoned JV plans for this investment following Donald Trump’s win in the US Presidential Elections of 2024
South Korea-headquartered diversified group OCI Holdings plans to establish a solar cell manufacturing plant in the US with 2 GW annual production capacity through its local subsidiary Mission Solar Energy (MSE).
It aims to realize 1 GW of solar cell production capacity under phase I in H1 2026. During H2 2026, it will gradually increase the capacity by over 1 GW to ultimately secure a total production capacity of 2 GW.
The $265 million proposed investment will expand OCI’s vertical solar value chain to solar cells since it already operates a solar module factory in Texas through MSE.
“The establishment of this solar cell production facility is set to drive substantial cost efficiencies by utilizing existing factory infrastructure and equipment, while also accelerating the project timeline through pre-secured production permits,” stated OCI. “As a result, the project is expected to be completed more than a year ahead of competitors, positioning it as one of the industry’s most cost-effective and fastest projects.”
OCI will supply Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) compliant polysilicon from its Malaysian subsidiary OCI TerraSus, which was previously called OCI M, thus doing away with the need to rely on Chinese polysilicon for its US solar cells. OCI TerraSus operates on hydropower to meet RE100 requirements, it adds.
Solar cells produced in the US by MSE, by following this ‘clean solar supply chain’ of OCI, will benefit from the Inflation Reduction Act’s (IRA) Advanced Manufacturing Production Credit (AMPC) of $0.04/W, according to the South Korean company.
OCI admitted that it had been considering joint ventures with global partners for its vertical integration in the US, but it changed track after Donald Trump’s win in the US Presidential elections and accelerated US tariff policies against China.
This has increased market uncertainties; hence, the company decided to go it alone with a new subsidiary to capture the demand for locally produced solar cells in the market.
The US market currently has more than 50 GW of annual solar module production capacity, with the rest of the components yet to be available at economies of scale here (see US Solar Module Manufacturing Capacity Exceeds 50 GW Milestone).