Japanese companies have been at the forefront of technological innovation since the 1950s. One area in which these companies excel is solar energy. Toyo Solar is a Japanese company that makes highly efficient and affordable solar panels, and they want to start making them in the U.S. The company plans to build a 2GW factory with a $100 million budget.
The U.S. market for solar is skyrocketing, and this Japanese company wants to move closer to consumers
Year after year, solar power gets more popular in the U.S. Almost half of the new electricity-producing power plants built between January and September 2023 were solar. California is the state leading the market in residential solar energy growth with roughly 30% more solar panels installed in homes from one year to the next. Toyo Solar is recognized as a high-quality brand in the U.S., but producing their solar panels in the country could give them an edge.
Toyo Solar is a publicly traded company in the U.S. and offers a range of solar panel products. The company invests heavily in research and development to create some of the most innovative solar panels on the market. Their products can be used in both industrial and private settings, for example, in residential homes as well as to power an electrical grid.
Toyo Solar’s solar panel technology is pushing the industry to new heights, and U.S. companies can’t compete
Toyo Solar is coming to the U.S. with extremely advanced technology. The company’s solar panel production plant will focus on solar modules for now, but it will eventually be making wafers and cells as well. Each type of production is distinct, and the company wants to focus on creating modules to sell to the U.S. market. Modules are collections of solar cells and are generally bigger than a typical solar cell. They also generate more energy.
Toyo Solar’s solar technology is more efficient than older models. While Toyo Solar does use silicon as a semiconductor material, it exploits PERC (Passivated Emitter Rear Cell) and bifacial cells to increase efficiency. Older solar cells were only able to turn 10-15% of the sun’s light into electricity. Toyo Solar’s solar panels have almost doubled this amount, and the technology is only getting better.
After raising $100 million, Toyo Solar will construct a 2 GW solar panel factory and plans to expand soon
With an initial budget of $100 million, Toyo Solar will soon construct a factory in the U.S. to produce 2 GW solar modules. This move seems counterintuitive at first because most companies will do anything to send manufacturing overseas for cheaper production costs. Labor and power are expensive in the U.S., and regulations are often stricter than in other countries. These issues didn’t detract from Toyo Solar’s mission to set up shop in the U.S.
The U.S. government provides great incentives to companies working on solar energy. The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) offers tax credits to any company helping the country transition to clean energy. For Toyo Solar, this will mean $12 per square meter of solar wafers produced as well as $0.04 per watt of solar cells and $0.07 per watt for each module. When production scales up, this could result in large savings for the company.
It’s not every day that a technologically savvy Japanese company wants to build a factory in the U.S. This development will help create local U.S. jobs and give consumers better access to high-quality solar technology for their homes. Solar energy has come a long way from its origin, and companies like Toyo Solar are hoping to make solar cells efficient enough to help the world transition to renewable energy sources for good.
