(This Sept. 11 story has been corrected to say ‘Western Hemisphere,’ not ‘Northern Hemisphere,’ in paragraph 2)
(Reuters) – China’s Trina Solar said on Monday it will invest more than $200 million to build a solar photovoltaic manufacturing facility in Texas.
The manufacturing facility in Wilmar, Texas, will be the company’s first in the Western Hemisphere, the company said, adding that when complete the facility will produce 5 gigawatts (GW) of modules and source polysilicon from the United States and Europe.
The facility is also expected to create 1,500 jobs.
“Trina’s goal in building this facility is to begin to create an ecosystem of American manufacturing that can serve the burgeoning U.S. solar market,” President Steven Zhu said in a statement.
Trina Solar is also due to start production of solar panel trackers at its first factory in Brazil by the end of this year.
Imports from Chinese panel suppliers including Trina Solar were stalled last year under a new law meant to weed out products made with forced labor. In March, U.S. customs officials released more than a third of the electronic equipment, including solar panels, detained since last year.
(Reporting by Seher Dareen in Bengaluru)