SEG Solar has invested $60 million in a new solar module factory in Houston, Texas.
SEG Solar has opened a new PV module manufacturing facility in Houston, Texas. The automated factory line has an initial capacity of 2 GW of n-type panels per year, with plans to expand to 5 GW by 2030.
“We have invested $60 million here in Houston,” said Jun Zhuge, Chief Operating Officer of SEG Solar, as he addressed an audience composed mainly of customers, partners and local officials gathered for the opening. “We’re not just talking.”
The fully automated production line – SEG Solar claims it is the longest PV line in the world – takes glass and cells and runs through the production stages via conveyor belts to the frame and packaging. There are numerous stations for various inspection and quality assurance processes. The hands-off line requires 12 technicians to operate the machines, although more are on site for training purposes.
“We don’t just want to make money,” Zhuge said. “We want to build up solar energy production in this country. We want to bring the entire supply chain to this country.”
The company, co-founded by Zhuge and CEO Jim Wood, launched in California in 2016. Through 2021, the company established cell and module factories in Southeast Asia and China. The PV cells that power the Houston facility come from Indonesia, but the company says it is committed to producing cells in the United States.
Wood, a veteran of investment banking and solar installations, eventually went to work for a major Chinese solar manufacturer. He worked with Zhuge and other partners with industry experience, and they decided there was a real opportunity to create a successful U.S. module manufacturer under the right circumstances.
“We looked at a lot of the lessons we’ve learned from myself and other people here who work at other manufacturers and we said, we’re going to lean heavily on automation,” Wood said. pv magazine USAadding that the production machines are the largest of their kind available. “Those stringers are 1.3 times faster than any other stringers in the world. Because we are fully automated, because the capacity of those lines is greater, because the machines work faster, we can be as competitive here as we are in Southeast Asia.”
According to Wood, the company looked to other regions to establish its U.S. manufacturing base, but decided that Houston offered some key advantages for its strategic development plans. He called Houston one of the best ports in the country, a large and educated workforce and a friendly business atmosphere. Additionally, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), Texas is already the second largest solar market in the United States, with 42 GW installed in the second quarter of 2024, and is poised to reach number one next year to become 1.
Wood said SEG Solar’s goal is not to meet domestic content requirements or avoid tariffs. It is a 100% American-owned company, where the clients assume both financial and managerial responsibility for the activities.
“SEG is internally funded,” he said. “We don’t have private equity. There are no external owners. We have not incurred any external debt. We are a true American company where we have taken our profits, recycled them and grown this company organically.”
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