FREYR Battery, a Norwegian developer of battery cells, is getting into solar panel manufacturing after announcing it will acquire the U.S. manufacturing operations of Trina Solar.
Inside the Wilmer panel assembly factory.
FREYR, which previously sought to serve the energy storage and EV markets, was pursuing a gigawatt-scale battery factory in Coweta County, Georgia. Now the company will take control of Trina’s 5-GW solar panel assembly facility in Wilmer, Texas, paying Trina $340 million for its U.S. manufacturing assets. FREYR details in an investor presentation that it is establishing an operations and intellectual property agreement between Trina and FREYR.
Upon closing of the transaction, which is expected before the end of 2024, FREYR will begin its efforts on domestic cell manufacturing. Site selection is underway with FREYR targeting construction to begin in the second quarter of 2025. The cell outfit should support 1,800 jobs and begin production in 2026.
“We are pleased to announce this transformative transaction, which will immediately position the company as one of the leading solar manufacturing companies in the U.S.,” said Daniel Barcelo, FREYR’s newly appointed CEO. “We are proud to be partnered with Trina Solar, a global manufacturing and solar technology leader. Domestic manufacturing capacity for solar and batteries is essential for energy transition and job creation. The U.S. was once the global leader in solar, and it can be again.”
FREYR said it has secured a U.S. polysilicon supply with Hemlock for its eventual cell production, which establishes a “platform for FREYR’s U.S. solar and battery storage strategy.” The company also announced it has terminated its battery technology license with 24M Technologies, but no further news was released on its potential Georgia battery factory.
Joining FREYR upon closing of the Trina transaction include Trina employees Mingxing Lin as chief strategy officer and Dave Gustafson as chief operating officer.
Solar panels produced by FREYER at the Texas plant will continue to have the Trina brand, and the two companies will jointly market the panels to the U.S. market.
freyr battery should look into the new graphene- aluminum solar cell technology which has more output per cell. a 20% increase in power and more durable than conventional solar panel and less stress on the panel. and cheaper to produce and 5x lighter than traditional solar panel.
Trina realizes Trump will inevitably nationalize their plant so they are dumping it. They will probably get minimal IP from the agreement only because of the visibility, but I’m not sure that matters because the Topcon IP is showing it’s weaknesses anyway per the latest PVEL scorecard. Maybe trump can make a deal with Mexico to extract the battery cell production IP from Mexico next
Our government doesn’t nationalize private enterprises. Freyr is more than capable of evaluating the value and profitability of the Trina purchase.
“The company also announced it has terminated its battery technology license with 24M Technologies, but no further news was released on its potential Georgia battery factory.”
Interesting, 24M has been supplying materials to Kyocera for their residential Enerezza BESS units since right around 2020-2021. One has to ponder, what this means for FREYR and 24M, was this mutual or does FREYR have something else in the works it thinks will be better than 24M? Some articles online seem to pose a substantial investment in company Aleees LFP chemistry. This seems to suggest FREYR will pivot to Aleees LFP CAM and away from 24M slurry battery technology.