A factory in Moses Lake, Wash., that shut down in 2019 will soon resume shipping a critical ingredient used in most solar panels that for years has been made almost exclusively in China.
REC Silicon reopened the factory, which makes polysilicon, the building block for the large majority of solar panels, in November in partnership with Hanwha Qcells, a South Korean company that is investing billions of dollars in U.S. solar panel production.
As part of the deal, Hanwha this month said it has become the largest shareholder in REC Silicon, which is based in Norway.
Executives at the companies say they reopened the factory in part because of incentives for domestic manufacturing in the Inflation Reduction Act, President Biden’s signature climate law.
They expressed hope that their decision would also encourage other companies to revive production of a technology that was created in the United States about 70 years ago.
Persons:
Hanwha Qcells
Organizations:
REC, South
Locations:
Moses Lake, China, Southeast Asia, South Korean, Norway, United States