Heliene and Premier Energies, India – Announce Joint Venture to Build a U.S.-Based Solar Cell Manufacturing Facility

By investing in a new U.S.-based cell manufacturing facility, the two companies will bolster a critical aspect of the domestic solar supply chain and make more U.S.-made components available to developers


MOUNTAIN IRON, Minn. and HYDERABAD, India, July 25, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Heliene, Inc., a customer-first provider of North American-made solar PV modules, and Premier Energies, India’s 2nd largest solar cell manufacturing company, have announced their joint plan for a US based joint venture to create a solar cell manufacturing facility in the U.S. Under the terms of a recently-executed agreement, the new facility will produce an annual aggregate capacity of 1 GW NTyp cells to supply Heliene’s U.S. cell requirement as well as Premier’s.

With this joint venture and new cell plant, the Companies are investing in the growing U.S. solar industry and capitalizing on important incentives and tax credits for domestic clean energy manufacturing introduced under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022.

This joint venture builds on a longstanding partnership between Heliene and Premier Energies and a shared commitment to providing solar customers and developers with long-term, highly bankable, reliable and sustainable products. Heliene currently sources solar cells from PEPPL’s Hyderabad facility for use in module manufacturing at its Mountain Iron, MN location.

“Premier Energies has been a valued partner of Heliene’s for many years now and we share a commitment to providing the highest-quality, most-reliable products to solar customers. With demand for U.S.-made modules and components growing, now is the perfect time to embark on the next phase of our partnership with this joint venture,” said Martin Pochtaruk, CEO of Heliene. “Our new cell manufacturing facility will not only expand the footprint and impact of each of our companies, but it will also establish us as true leaders in the effort to friend-shore up the U.S. solar manufacturing supply chain.”

The IRA introduced important tax credits for the domestic production of solar cells, modules and components, but new U.S.-based cell manufacturing capacity is still required to meet increased demand for solar modules and projects. Heliene and Premier Energies’ planned facility will directly address this demand. Cells produced at the new site and incorporated into existing U.S. module manufacturing operations will also support developers seeking additional tax credits and incentives for their solar projects, including the lucrative domestic content bonus adder.

“As pioneers in solar technology and with our years of experience in solar cell manufacturing, Premier Energies is proud to partner with a fellow innovator and industry leader in Heliene,” said Chiranjeev Saluja, Managing Director at Premier Energies. “This joint venture will leverage the best of both companies’ resources and knowledge to tap the largely unaddressed demand for U.S. cell manufacturing.”

Under the terms of the joint venture, Heliene will contribute construction, project management, human resources, financial resource and management, facility operations, supply chain and logistics, and regulatory expertise. Premier will contribute cell technology engineering and operational expertise in the manufacturing process of the cells, manufacturing equipment selection, financial resources, raw material vendor relationships and supply agreements management. The Companies will announce further details on the project’s scope and timeline shortly.

About Heliene

Heliene is one of North America’s fastest-growing domestic module manufacturers serving the utility-scale, commercial, and residential markets. With an in-house logistics team and remarkably responsive support staff, Heliene delivers competitively priced, high performance solar modules precisely when and where customers need them to accelerate North America’s clean energy transition. Founded in 2010, Heliene consistently ranks as a highly bankable module manufacturer and has production facilities located in Canada, and the USA. For more information, visit www.heliene.com.

Media inquiries:
Carly Ross
FischTank PR
heliene@fischtankpr.com

About Premier Energies Photo Voltaic Pvt Limited

Founded in 1995, Premier Energies is India's 2nd largest integrated Cell and Module manufacturer with Module Capacity of 3.36GW and Cell Capacity of 2GW. Its state of the art, fully automated facility in Hyderabad is GOLD rated by U.S. Green Building Council. Backed by GEF Capital (Washington DC based global environment fund) and with offices in India and Toronto, Premier Energies supplies high quality, third party validated bankable solar cells and modules across the globe. For more information, visit: www.premierenergies.com/

Media inquiries:
Mohit Chawla
hello@premierenergies.com