India-based solar PV module manufacturer and supplier Waaree Energies has unveiled its plans to establish its first US manufacturing facility in the Houston area, Texas, US.
The new PV facility, planned to be built near the town of Brookshire, will have the initial capacity to manufacture 3GW of solar modules annually by the end of 2024.
Waaree intends to invest up to $ 1bn over the coming four years, to scale its annual module manufacturing production up to 5GW by 2027.
It plans to develop the new plant as a large-scale solar module manufacturing facility in the US.
Waaree chairman and managing director Hitesh Doshi said: “In partnership with a company of SB Energy’s mission and stature, Waaree is fostering a solar manufacturing ecosystem in Texas, a state that has taken a leading position in clean energy manufacturing.”
Waaree will also build an integrated US-made solar cell facility that is expected to be operational by 2025.
The new facility is expected to create more than 1,500 total jobs in the US when at full capacity.
Waaree already has a major presence in the US solar market and has supplied more than 4GW of modules from its current Indian facility to US customers.
The solar company’s US expansion benefits from the long-term supply agreement with SB Energy and will supply multi-GWs of solar modules to SB Energy over the coming 5 years.
SB Energy co-CEO Abhijeet Sathe said: “We are delighted to expand our U.S. supply chain with Waaree, a leading global supplier of solar modules.
“Through our long-term supply agreements, we are proud to support the growing U.S. solar supply chain and well-paying manufacturing jobs.
“Waaree brings a proven track record of delivering superior technology to some of the largest solar projects in the U.S. and India.”
Last year, SB Energy signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Google to supply the internet major with 942MW of renewable energy capacity in Texas.
Recently, the company has secured a combined $2.4bn to support energy communities with domestically produced renewable energy at scale.
