Freyr Battery enters solar manufacturing, buys 5 GW plant from Trina Solar | Utility Dive

Nov 08, 2024

Freyr will pay $340 million for the Wilmer, Texas, facility. It also plans to begin construction next year on another 5 GW solar manufacturing facility.

Battery solutions provider Freyr is entering the solar manufacturing business.

The company has struck a deal with Chinese-owned Trina Solar to acquire Trina’s 5 GW solar module manufacturing facility in Texas for $340 million, Freyr announced Wednesday.

The two companies expect to close the deal around the end of the year, Freyr said. The facility is a 1.35 million square foot manufacturing plant in Wilmer, Texas, which began producing modules Nov. 1.

“The facility is expected to ramp up to full production in 2025 with 30% of estimated production volumes backed by firm offtake contracts with U.S. customers,” Freyr said in a release.

According to the company’s website, Trina Solar initially invested more than $200 million in property and equipment when developing the facility.

Freyr said that once the transaction is closed, it will “execute a multi-phase strategic plan to establish a vertically integrated U.S. solar manufacturing footprint.”

In addition to purchasing the Wilmer, Texas, facility from Trina, Freyr plans to build a 5 GW solar cell manufacturing facility in the U.S, with construction expected to start in Q2 2025, the company said.

Freyr’s push to create a vertically integrated solar operation in the U.S. follows Qcells’ work to do the same. At September’s RE+ conference, several industry experts remarked that a complete domestic solar supply chain would be necessary for the U.S. solar industry to break its dependence on Chinese modules, cells, wafers, ingots and polysilicon.

“Domestic manufacturing capacity for solar and batteries is essential for energy transition and job creation,” said Daniel Barcelo, Freyr’s CEO. “The U.S. was once the global leader in solar, and it can be again.”

Freyr is currently selecting a site for its planned solar cell facility, it said, and “targeting a start of construction in [the second quarter of] 2025 with anticipated first solar cell production in [the second half of] 2026.”

When the transaction closes, Trina Solar’s Head of Overseas Finance Center Mingxing Lin will join Freyr as their chief strategy officer and as a member of the board of directors. Trina Co-General Manager Dave Gustafson will be the chief operating officer.