A U.S. solar panel manufacturer will soon be producing silicon panels with perovskite-coated glass, a first for the country.
Solx, a panel assembler starting up in Puerto Rico, has signed a five-year, 3-GW partnership with Caelux, a California-based perovskite company. The collaboration will integrate Caelux’s perovskite glass into Solx’s Aurora solar module, creating a panel with two power generation layers and enabling increased efficiencies of 28%.
The Caelux perovskite Active Glass coming off pilot fabrication line in Baldwin Park, California. Credit: Caelux
“This is a defining moment for American energy manufacturing. U.S.-made hybrid tandem is no longer a theoretical, it’s now in commercialized production,” said James Holmes, co-founder and CEO of Solx. “We’ve integrated Caelux’s leading glass technology into our domestic manufacturing platform, engineered for gigawatt-scale production. This is how the U.S. leads again — by building the energy future at scale.”
Perovskites are a thin-film material that absorb more of the light spectrum, are highly efficient and have proven beneficial in tandem-silicon designs. Instead of producing a tandem perovskite-silicon solar panel outright, Caelux has chosen to focus just on perovskite-coated glass that can be used with silicon-based solar panels. The company began trial runs of its Active Glass product last year, and this partnership with Solx is a major step forward to gigawatt-scale deployment.
“Leading the market in the commercialization of double power layer modules, this partnership revolutionizes the American energy industry to meet growing energy demand,” said Scott Graybeal, CEO of Caelux.
Solx Aurora beta modules built with Caelux’s energy amplifying glass technology are already confirmed for deployment in an operating domestic project with a U.S.-based developer, the companies say. Widespread commercial volumes are expected by 2027 to the U.S. market, with a roadmap to scale to multi-gigawatt annual domestic capacity.
Solx production line. Shared by CEO James Holmes on LinkedIn
Additionally, the Solx Aurora panels with Caelux glass will feature Suniva silicon cells, also made in America. The Caelux glass comprises the first power generation layer, and Suniva’s cells make up the second power layer.
“A strong domestic supply chain is essential to America’s energy future,” said Matt Card, CEO of Suniva. “This partnership demonstrates what’s possible when U.S. manufacturers and technology leaders align. By supplying domestically produced solar cells into Solx’s Aurora platform while also incorporating Caelux’s Active Glass, we are strengthening domestic energy security, creating high-quality American jobs, and enabling the next generation of solar innovation.”
Solx operates a 1-GW annual capacity solar panel assembly facility in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, which should reach production in the next few months. Caelux operates an Active Glass production line at its headquarters in Baldwin Park, California. Suniva has an operational solar cell plant in Georgia and just announced it would open a second cell manufacturing site in South Carolina.
