Sometimes the biggest misstep is standing still, and China’s Trinasolar isn’t missing its cue to exit the U.S. market.
Amidst a shifting political climate that promises to be increasingly hostile toward Chinese companies, Trinasolar has agreed to sell its 5-gigawatt (GW) solar module manufacturing facility in Wilmer, Texas to Georgia-based sustainable battery developer FREYR Battery for $340 million. FREYR was founded in Norway but is now headquartered in the United States, where it intends to expand its clean energy manufacturing footprint to include another 5 GW plant (site to be determined) targeting production by the second half of 2026.
As the United States prepares to usher in a second Trump presidency, the Biden Administration is cracking down on Chinese companies benefiting from the Inflation Reduction Act’s clean energy tax incentives. In addition, last August the U.S. Department of Commerce ruled that Trinasolar circumvented tariffs on Chinese-made goods. A 2023 report by Sheffield Hallam University determined the company had “very high exposure” to production involving forced Uyghur Labor.
But as recently as last month, the president of Trinasolar US Steven Zhu expressed excitement over his company’s plans to expand in the United States. He said the U.S. Department of Commerce’s preliminary countervailing duty findings “reaffirm Trina’s U.S. expansion plans with confidence and dedication to the US market.”
The 1.35 million square foot Texas module facility, which just became operational on November 1, produces high-power Vertex modules for utility-scale, commercial & industrial, and residential solar applications in the United States, utilizing polysilicon sourced from the U.S. and Europe, according to Zhu. It creates around 1,500 local jobs. The facility is expected to ramp up to full production next year and has approximately 30% of its estimated volume backed by firm offtake contracts with U.S. customers, per FREYR.
The transaction between Trina and FREYR is expected to close by the end of the year. FREYR’s $340M is comprised of $100M cash, the $50M repayment of an intercompany loan, a $150M loan note, 9.9% of FREYR outstanding common stock, and a convertible loan note that would convert into an additional 11.5% of FREYR outstanding common stock after certain conditions are satisfied.
Once the deal is done, FREYR, named after the Norse god of fertility, says it wants to execute a “multi-phase strategic plan to establish a vertically integrated U.S. solar manufacturing footprint” that will include the aforementioned new 5 GW solar cell plant, targeting construction in Q2 2025 and operations by mid-2026.
“We are pleased to announce this transformative transaction, which will immediately position the company as one of the leading solar manufacturing companies in the U.S.,” said Daniel Barcelo, FREYR’s newly appointed CEO. “Domestic manufacturing capacity for solar and batteries is essential for energy transition and job creation. The U.S. was once the global leader in solar, and it can be again.”
FREYR announced its third quarter results to investors today, reporting a net loss attributable to stockholders of $27.5M in Q3.
In late 2022, FREYR selected and purchased a site in Coweta County, Georgia for “Giga America,” a clean battery manufacturing project to be developed in phases, beginning with an initial battery cell production module of about 34 GWh at a preliminarily estimated capital investment of $1.7 billion. Eventually, FREYR wants to scale to 100 GWh by 2028, investing more than $2.6B in the facility through 2029. Progress on the site has been slow, according to local reports, but FREYR still hopes to have Giga America operational by 2026.
