A Canadian company that identified the Twin Cities as a potential site for a $200 million solar cell factory says it’s too risky to move ahead until Congress decides whether to eliminate clean energy tax credits under incoming President Donald Trump.
Company with Minnesota clean energy ambitions puts solar cell factory on hold ahead of power shift in Washington
Canada-based Heliene Inc. won’t move ahead with building the second solar cell plant in the U.S. until it knows how Trump will handle the Inflation Reduction Act. Heliene assembles solar parts on the Iron Range and soon in Rogers.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
December 27, 2024 at 4:50PM
Trump has pledged to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022 as he pursues other priorities, such as spending on border enforcement. But its future is unclear because some Republican lawmakers want to keep parts of the legislation that has brought clean energy manufacturing jobs and other benefits to their districts.
Minnesota has not landed major vehicle battery plants or other large-scale manufacturing projects like elsewhere in the country. But Democrats have highlighted Heliene Inc.’s current and future solar panel projects in the state as an example of new Minnesota investment spurred by the IRA.
“While we continue to progress on all of the planning and preparation, we are not going to be placing purchase orders for equipment until the new administration is in place, there is a better understanding of any and all possible changes,” Heliene CEO Martin Pochtaruk said in an interview this week.
Heliene wants to build what would be the second solar cell manufacturing plant in the United States in partnership with India-based Premier Energies. That would be a major step forward for the Canadian company and the U.S. solar industry in a market dominated by Chinese manufacturers.
Heliene currently assembles solar modules in the northeastern Minnesota city of Mountain Iron. Modules are the larger panels made up of individual cells. Heliene imports cells from Premier and buys others from the only U.S. company building them, Suniva in Georgia.
Making cells is more complicated and costly than assembling them, Pochtaruk said, which is why the company relies on the 45X tax credit, which subsidizes production of solar and wind components. The work requires a bigger building, and the manufacturing has more steps.
“You’re working with chemicals in liquid and gas form,” Pochtaruk said. “You need water treatment to clean the water.”
Suniva resumed producing cells this year in Georgia after filing for bankruptcy in 2017. The company said its restart was thanks to IRA tax credits.
Pochtaruk said Heliene has hired a firm to search for a building to lease for its cell manufacturing plant. While the Twin Cities is the only site publicly mentioned so far, he said the company hasn’t settled on Minnesota or any location.
Heliene still plans to spend $50 million opening a module line in Rogers next year that Pochtaruk said will create about 150 jobs. Last year, the company spent $10 million to expand the Mountain Iron plant.
Heliene started manufacturing in 2010 in Canada. In 2017, the company took over the Iron Range location of a failed Minnesota solar venture. A 2021 expansion there cost $21 million, with more than $11 million funded through state grants and loans.
Canada-based Heliene Inc. won’t move ahead with building the second solar cell plant in the U.S. until it knows how Trump will handle the Inflation Reduction Act. Heliene assembles solar parts on the Iron Range and soon in Rogers.
