Toyo Solar has revealed plans to open a 2 GW solar panel factory in the United States and has filed to raise $100 million for a future tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) solar cell facility.

Japan-based Toyo Solar said it plans to open a 2 GW solar module manufacturing plant in the United States. The plan includes expansions to add cell and wafer manufacturing in the future.The company said it plans to raise $100 million to support the factory. It expects a 70% return-on-investment in year one of full-scale production, based on US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) incentives and expected profits. The IRA offers $12 per square meter of solar wafers, $0.04/W for solar cells, and $0.07/W for solar modules.Toyo Solar forecasts a $0.60/W profit for a 1.4 GW production in the first 12 months of operation, leading to an $84 million return, according to a company presentation. It expects to begin production of US solar modules by mid-2025, followed by the production of US solar cells in the first half of 2026. The timeline for constructing a US wafer-slicing facility has yet to be determined.“Toyo owns one of the largest, non-Chinese N-type cell manufacturing bases in the world,” said Toyo Solar. “For the first six months of 2024, 985 MW Toyo cells were utilized mainly to power US-based projects.”Toyo Solar makes TOPCon solar cells, which perform well in low-light conditions with a relative conversion efficiency of ≥ 97% under 200 W per meter squared. These cells offer a high front conversion efficiency of ≥ 25.3% and a bifacial efficiency of about 85% relative to the front face.In the first six months of 2024, Toyo Solar had 3 GW of manufacturing capacity, shipped 986 MW of solar cells, and posted $19.6 million of net income.The company went public in the United States following the combination of Vietnam Sunergy Cell Co., a wholly owned subsidiary of Toyo, and Blue World Acquisition Corp. It began manufacturing at its Vietnam facility in 2023 and has delivered 1.3 GW of solar cells to date.Toyo Solar said it plans to integrate the VSUN brand, credentials, and US sales channels into its own brand once mass production begins at its US facility.