CubicPV, a startup invested by Bill Gates, disclosed on December 15 to build a 10 GW solar silicon wafer manufacturing plant in the United States.
According to the report released by SEIA at the beginning of this year, the American market has been short of solar silicon ingots, silicon wafers and cell capacity, and the construction of this factory is expected to fill the gap in the local solar manufacturing supply chain.
The construction will also be supported by the policies. The U.S. Department of Energy publicly said that it would give priority to encouraging the construction of such plants, which is expected to drive the development of other links in the U.S. solar energy industry chain.
Frank van Mierlo, CEO of the Massachusetts-headquartered company, said that it is planned to complete the construction before 2025. It is estimated that it can meet the needs of 10 GW of solar modules annually, with a construction cost of about USD 1 billion.
The company was first brought into shape in July 2021, with BEV Fund Company, a joint venture between Bill Gates and First Solar, as the main investor of the company.
Previously, CubicPV disclosed to develop laminated perovskite solar cells with an efficiency of about 30%, and establish a 2 GW solar wafer and cell production plant in India. In April this year, CubicPV signed a multi-year sales agreement with Waaree Energies, an Indian module manufacturer, to supply 1 GW of solar cells each year.
Van Mierlo said that they had hired senior executives with relevant production experience and signed a contract with an engineering company. Currently, they are negotiating with potential wafer buyers thus a factory may be considered if it all went well so that production could start in 2023.
