PVTIME – US solar manufacturer T1 Energy has begun the first phase of construction on a TOPCon battery manufacturing facility in Texas, which will increase the country’s expanding solar cell sector’s production capacity by 2.1GW. Named G2 Austin, the project represents an investment of between 400 and 425 million US dollars, and the company is projecting that commercial operations will commence by the end of 2026.
The facility will initially focus on TOPCon cell production, with plans to increase capacity to 5.3GW in phase two. T1 Energy has stated that this capacity could be scaled up further in response to increased market demand for solar cells. Cells produced at G2 Austin will be supplied to the company’s G1 module manufacturing facility in Dallas, which T1 Energy acquired from Trina Solar in December last year. This acquisition was part of the company’s broader transformation, which included rebranding from Freyr Battery and shifting focus from battery production to solar manufacturing.
T1 Energy has already experienced significant demand for its module products, selling 725MW of modules in the third quarter of this year and generating sales of between 200 and 210 million US dollars. The addition of in-house cell manufacturing is set to strengthen its production line, which currently relies heavily on US domestic manufacturing.
In August this year, T1 Energy signed a supply agreement with US ceramics and glass manufacturer Corning to support this domestic production push. Under the agreement, the company will source polysilicon and wafers from a Corning-operated manufacturing facility in Michigan, in partnership with its subsidiary Hemlock Semiconductor. In October, T1 Energy entered into another agreement to procure steel module frames from NEXTPower, a US tracking system manufacturer formerly known as Nextracker, for its module production.
Dan Barceló, the Chairman and CEO of T1 Energy, stated that these two supply agreements, combined with cell production at the G2 Austin plant, would help to establish an integrated US-based polysilicon solar supply chain. He added that solar energy is today’s most scalable, reliable and cost-effective energy source, and expressed his belief that the US solar industry will thrive in Rockdale, Texas.
This milestone represents a significant advancement for the US solar manufacturing industry, which has been working to increase capacity in recent years, particularly for wafers and cells. T1 Energy credited the Trump administration’s pro-growth economic and trade policies, which are likely to refer to the series of tariffs imposed on imported goods and the investigations launched into imports from Chinese companies, with stimulating domestic manufacturing.
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