China-based solar panel maker setting up 1-GW factory in South Carolina

Another China-based solar panel manufacturer says it is starting a crystalline silicon solar panel assembly factory in the United States. See all recent U.S. manufacturing news here. 

Hounen Solar America, the U.S. division of China’s Zhejiang Hounen Photoelectric Co., Ltd., will invest $33 million into an existing 200,000-sq-ft facility in Orangeburg, South Carolina, to eventually support 1 GW of annual solar panel production capacity and 200 new jobs, the South Carolina Governor’s office reported this week.

“We are excited to announce our first manufacturing operations in the United States,” said Jufang Lv, Hounen Solar CEO. “Our new solar panel assembly plant will allow us to produce 1 GW crystalline silicon PV panels for markets in the U.S. We are grateful for the help and support of the South Carolina team and look forward to providing more economic opportunities in the state.”

No timelines on hiring or manufacturing startup were provided.

C&D Clean Energy, a renewable energy supply chain service provider based in China, inked a deal last month with U.S. distributor Unicorn Solar to distribute 500 MW of C&D solar panels in the United States. In booth displays at Intersolar North America, C&D said it had local manufacturing in Orangeburg, South Carolina, in a building identical to the one in which Hounen is setting up. It appears as though C&D may white-label Hounen panels for distribution in the United States.

Solar Power World is awaiting further details from Hounen on the South Carolina factory.

See a list of U.S. solar manufacturers here.