Suniva, once the US’s oldest and largest solar cell maker, has been dormant for six years, but now it’s going to reopen its Georgia factory.
Suniva is going to upgrade and revive its solar cell factory in Norcross, Georgia. The first stage will bring its annual manufacturing capacity to 1 gigawatt (GW) in spring 2024, and a second phase could expand the factory’s capacity to 2.5 GW.
The company had two factories, in Michigan and Georgia. It filed bankruptcy in 2017 and shuttered its 450 MW Georgia factory because it said it couldn’t compete with cheaper solar imports.
Then Suniva filed a petition seeking tariffs on imported solar cells and modules, and the Trump administration imposed Section 201 in response.
In February 2022 the Biden administration eased Section 201 trade tariffs by excluding bifacial solar panels favored by US developers, and it doubled the import allowance on solar cells to 5 GW before tariffs take effect. It was an attempt to walk a fine line between appeasing domestic solar manufacturers who want to eliminate the cheap foreign competition and installers and developers who want a robust and immediate supply chain until US manufacturers get up and running.
Ultimately, Suniva cites the Biden administration’s passage of the Inflation Reduction Act and its resulting manufacturing tax credits as the reason it’s going to be able to restart solar cell manufacturing operations.
Cristiano Amoruso, Suniva CEO and board member, said in a statement:
Since 2007, Suniva has been a leader in solar cell technology development and manufacturing. The Inflation Reduction Act and its domestic content provisions, as issued, provide a strong foundation for continued solar cell technology development and manufacturing in the United States.
Suniva also secured a $110 million financing commitment from New York investment fund Orion Infrastructure Capital earlier this year, and it will use the money to buy new manufacturing equipment. The company has been owned by New York investment firm Lion Point Capital since it exited bankruptcy in 2019.
