From pv magazine USA
Heliene, a PV module manufacturer with facilities in Canada and the United States, has announced the closing a strategic equity investment of up to $54 million from Transition Equity Partners. The investment will support the expansion of Heliene’s manufacturing footprint.
The strategic investment from Transition Equity Partners follows the announced $50 million in 45X production tax credit transfer to enable the company to reduce debt and complete the expansion of its Minnesota plant, which has a planned start date of May 2025.
“This investment from Transition Equity Partners is a key milestone in Heliene’s growth journey,” said Heliene CEO Martin Pochtaruk. “It empowers us to expand our capacity to deliver high-quality, bankable, domestically produced solar modules that power the clean energy transition.”
This capital infusion will support the development of a new 550 MW production line in Rogers, Minn., and the creation of 150 or more new full-time jobs at the facility. Heliene’s “Minnesota #3” manufacturing line will boost the company’s total US-based manufacturing capacity to more than 1.5GW per year.
Heliene has several industry leading partners underpinning this expansion, including a 2 GW supply agreement with Excelsior Energy Capital and 1.5GW supply agreement with Nexamp, touted by US Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm as an investment that would “boost American manufacturing and create American jobs, while lowering families’ energy bills.”
As the modules will primarily be assembled at a Heliene factory in Mountain Iron, Minnesota, Excelsior said that the new agreement “materially derisks supply of PV modules” of its projects. By procuring solar modules from a North American supplier, Excelsior can avoid the risks inherent with purchasing equipment that travels a 6,000 mile-plus global supply chain.
In addition, Heliene raised $170 million from Orion Infrastructure Capital (OIC) and several of Heliene’s key customers in 2023.
Heliene recently announced the signing of a multi-year contract with NorSun, a solar wafer manufacturer. The exact amount of wafers was not specified, but Heliene reported that the supply will meet its annual requirement of silicon wafers starting in 2026. Heliene, will take delivery of the wafer at its cell factory that it’s building with Premier Energies in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota.
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