US based renewable energy generator and distributor Convalt Energy plans to roll out 700 MW worth of solar PV panel capacity annually from its Watertown, Jefferson County located manufacturing facility in New York state, reported Bloomberg recently.
For this fab, Convalt Energy is purchasing tools and machinery from SunPower that announced plans to shut down its Oregon located PV manufacturing fab by June 2021, having spun off its production portfolio as Maxeon Solar Technologies (see SunPower To Shutter Hillsboro Manufacturing Facility). The deal with SunPower, it said, closed in April 2021.
As per its website, Convalt Energy is targeting commercial operations for the 700 MW fab in H2/2022. It seems to be following the same module technology for its panels as SunPower, with back-contact cells, no grid lines, thick connectors and solid metal backing.
TaiyangNews reached out to Convalt Energy for more technical details, but till the time of this story’s publishing time, we had not heard back.
According to the Bloomberg article, the company is seeking local incentives for its manufacturing facility, while claiming to create several clean energy jobs, a cause that’s close to the current administration of US President Joe Biden (see Joe Biden Bats For Clean Energy To Create Jobs).
Convalt Energy wants to enter upstream solar space to be able to use panels produced to deploy for its projects and also export to other countries. It had previously declared its intentions to enter solar panel manufacturing in February 2021 located in a fab in Jefferson County’s new business park under an agreement with the Jefferson County Economic Development (JCED). The business park will also house a new energy-related software production fab of DigiCollect led by Hari Achuthan, the CEO of Convalt Energy.
Both Convalt Energy and DigiCollect are portfolio companies of alternative investment manager ACO Investment Group.
The company’s plans come right in the middle of growing demand for US to expand its local solar panel manufacturing capacity to lower its dependence on China, create clean energy jobs for Americans and to meet its climate ambitions. Recently, the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) said it is setting a 50 GW annual solar PV domestic production target by 2030 after Democratic Party’s Senator Jon Ossoff proposed legislation on Solar Energy Manufacturing for America Act with tax credit for local producers (see US Senator Wants Tax Credit For Local Manufacturers).
