Canadian Solar to Build $250M Manufacturing Facility

Image by Zbynek Burival via Unsplash

Canadian Solar is building a plant in Mesquite, Texas, near Dallas, that will manufacture solar panels for power generation.

The $250 million project represents the Guelph, Canada-based developer’s first U.S. manufacturing facility. Located at 3000 Skyline Drive, the plant will sit on a 91-acre site and will manufacture solar photovoltaic modules, with an approximately 20,000 module-per-day output. The facility is expected to turn out modules representing 5 gigawatts of generation capacity annually. Construction is slated to begin at the end of 2023.

READ ALSO: Forging Stronger Links in the Supply Chain

Shawn Qu, founder & CEO of Canadian Solar, hailed the project as an important milestone in growing the firm’s U.S. business, saying that the plant is one of many planned long-term investments in the U.S. The company has manufacturing facilities in Canada, China, Brazil, Thailand and Vietnam. Canadian Solar’s renewable energy-focused subsidiary, Recurrent Energy, is based in Texas, in the state capital of Austin.

Texas has emerged as a hub for renewable energy, coming in second in installed solar capacity behind California, according to a recent ranking of U.S. states by the Solar Energy Industries Association and Wood Mackenzie. According to the two groups’ joint report, the Lone Star State had 2,325 megawatts of solar power generation installed at the end of the third quarter of 2022. In March, Facebook parent Meta announced it had invested in the development of 700 megawatts of wind and solar energy in Texas.