Heliene officially cut the ribbon on its new solar module assemble facility in Rogers, Minnesota. The 500-MW site has been operational since April 29. Heliene also operates two panel assembly lines in Mountain Iron, Minnesota, with a capacity of 800 MW. The company’s total U.S. manufacturing capacity is now 1.3 GW annually.
The first solar panels off the new line in Rogers. Credit: Heliene LinkedIn
“Heliene is experiencing continued demand for our high-quality, high-domestic content solar PV modules,” said Martin Pochtaruk, CEO of Heliene. “By nearly doubling our manufacturing capacity at our new Rogers, Minnesota, facility, we can continue to provide best-in-class fully domestic content products and service to our customers, while we deliver on our broader goal of onshoring U.S. solar supply chains, by incorporating domestically-produced, cells, frames, polymers and other critical components.”
Heliene is hiring more than 220 new employees to support the Rogers facility. The Canadian-headquartered company received $2.3 million in funding from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED), with specific funding from the Minnesota Investment Fund (MIF), Minnesota Job Creation Fund (JCF) and the Minnesota Job Skills Partnership (MJSP), to support job creation.
Across all three manufacturing lines in Minnesota, Heliene is producing bifacial silicon solar panels with the highest possible percentage of domestic content available on the market. The company has signed supply agreements with Origami Solar for steel frames, SolarCycle for glass, and Hemlock, Corning and Suniva for polysilicon, wafers and cells.
