400 MW New Solar Module Fab For US

• Meyer Burger will build its 2^nd solar module production facility in the US with an initial capacity of 400 MW
• Final site selection will be announced by 2021-end, but it is procuring all machinery and equipment parallelly
• Commercial production onsite is scheduled to begin by the end of 2022
• Says the US fab may be expanded for multiple GWs expansion in the future

Solar cell and module manufacturer from Germany, Meyer Burger technology AG has chosen the US to build its 2^nd solar module fab to roll out 400 MW HJT high performance panels annually, after bringing the 1^st one online in Germany's Freiberg only in the spring of 2021 (see Meyer Burger's Module Fab in Germany Now Open).

Meyer Burger's Decision to pick the US as the location is driven by its need to be closer to end-customers, and the strong domestic solar market the country offers, it said.

The final site location isn't final as yet, however, but the management plans to zero in on a suitable location by 2021-end, and start commercial production by the end of 2022. Parallelly, Meyer Burger is also procuring all required machinery and equipment for the site. Its site selection decision will depend on existing facilities in the state along with regulatory and tax frameworks, available skilled workforce capacity, proximity to transportation infrastructure and renewable power supply, among other factors.

The fab will have an initial capacity of 400 MW, but it may be expanded to multiple GWs capacity. It will cater to all segments, namely residential, commercial/industrial rooftop and utility scale applications. At full capacity it will provide hundreds of skilled manufacturing jobs, the management said.

Arguing that it is critical for the US to develop its domestic supply chain and de-risk itself from heavy dependence on Asia, President of Meyer Burger Americas, Ardes Johnson said, "We are encouraged by bipartisan support for domestic manufacturing of solar infrastructure to secure true energy independence and control of our future."

According to its manufacturing roadmap, Meyer Burger aims to increase its annual solar cell and module production capacity to 1.4 GW each by 2022, expanding it to 4.2 GW each by 2025 and 7.0 GW each by 2027 (see Meyer Burger Raises Capital To Expand Production Capacity).

Meyer Burger's current 400 MW solar module capacity at Freiberg in Germany is to expanded to 1 GW, and 400 MW solar cell capacity at Bitterfeld-Wolfen also in Germany to be scaled up by 1 GW.