Canadian Solar plans huge Thai factory to meet US trade rules
Company says 5GW facility will enable it to 'responsibly meet' requirements over Southeast Asia origin PV products
Canadian Solar announced construction of a 5GW/yr capacity solar PV wafer plant in eastern Thailand that will supply a cell manufacturing facility in the US state of Indiana set for commercial operation in fourth quarter 2025.
The Thai factory will also have 5GW annual output and begin producing N-type wafers in March 2024, according to the company. There is now a cell manufacturing plant at the same location that will absorb initial output.
“Establishing this solar wafer factory in Thailand is a key milestone that will enable us to better serve our US customers with a more diversified and resilient supply chain,” said Thomas Koerner, senior vice president of Canadian Solar.
He noted the Thai investment, which he did not quantify, complements the company’s recent commitments exceeding $800m in Indiana and more than $250m toward a new module manufacturing plant outside Dallas in Texas. Those moves were applauded by officials in both states.
“Importantly, it will also allow us to responsibly meet the new requirements related to the latest and adjusted antidumping and countervailing duties (AD/CVD) ruling the US Department of Commerce (DoC),” Koerner added.
In August, DoC in a “final determination” found that Canadian Solar was among five Chinese producers attempting to bypass US duties through shipment of solar products via Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and/or Vietnam for minor processing. Canadian Solar was cited by the agency as doing this through Thailand.
DoC will not collect duties on any module or cell imports from those countries until 6 June 2024, as long as they are consumed in the US market within six months of that date, according to the agency.
“This provides US solar importers with sufficient time to adjust supply chains and ensure that sourcing is not occurring from companies found to be violating US law,” DoC said in a 18 August statement.
DoC considers Canadian Solar as Chinese although it is based in Guelph, Ontario, west of Toronto.
Canadian Solar CEO Shawn (Xiaohua) Qu is a Chinese born entrepreneur who arrived in Canada as a student in 1987 where he obtained a Ph. D in material science from the University of Toronto. He founded the company in 2001. Canadian Solar’s first production plant was in China.
Canadian Solar owns 62.24% of CSI Solar, which held its initial public offering on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in June, and 100% of Recurrent Energy, a leading global solar and energy storage developer.
(Copyright)