Swiss solar panel manufacturer Meyer Burger has signed a contract with D.E. Shaw Renewable Investments (DESRI) to supply up to 5 GW modules for the developer’s large-scale solar projects in the U.S.
Meyer Burger will expand its production capacity to reach 3 GW a year by mid-2024 to supply DESRI at least 3.75 GW of solar modules between 2024 and 2029.
Under the contract, DESRI has the right to increase the order volume to 5 GW, as well as to extend the contract beyond the 5-year period.
DESRI will pay Meyer Burger a "substantial annual down payment" to procure and finance materials for production.
“Meyer Burger will produce modules engineered in Switzerland and Germany and manufactured in the US, supplying DESRI’s projects with a high-quality product and secure, transparent supply chains,” said DESRI executive chairman Bryan Martin.
Meyer Burger is now constructing GW-scale manufacturing plants in both Germany and the U.S., which both are seeking to reshore solar manufacturing to wean themselves from dependence on imports from China and other Asian nations while boosting their solar power generation capacities.
Meyer Burger stated that the solar tax credit included in the newly approved Inflation Reduction Act will offer financial support for the manufacturing of components in the solar value chain in the U.S.
Amid rapid expansion the Swiss company, which turned itself from a equipment provider to a manufacturer of solar cells and modules, is still in the red. It has reported a first half 2022 a net loss of 41.0m Swiss francs (US$43m), compared to a net loss of CHF 37.2 million in 2021.
“With this agreement, Meyer Burger demonstrates that our high-performance heterojunction/SmartWire technology is also ideally applicable in the solar power plant segment,” Meyer Burger chairman Franz Richter said.
“We are looking forward to expanding the partnership with DESRI in the long term.”
Meyer Burger claimed that the energy yield of their HTJ/SmartWire solar modules is 20% higher than standard products. SmartWire is an interconnection technology for cells.
In the first half of 2022, the company produced around 110 MW of modules, and it expects to generate another 210 MW to 260 MW in the second half.
