Bila Solar has begun producing its new line of silicon solar panels at its Indianapolis factory, the company announced.
Credit: Bila Solar on YouTube
“This is a pivotal moment not just for Bila Solar, but for the entire U.S. clean energy industry,” said Mick McDaniel, Vice President and General Manager of Bila Solar. “Our Indianapolis facility proves the power of smart, forward-looking policies that bring manufacturing back home. We’re proud to contribute to strengthening our domestic supply chain, creating good-paying jobs and advancing American energy independence.”
Originally intending to only manufacture glassless and frameless silicon solar panels, Bila is now also making a framed design and a more common glass-glass bifacial panel at its 157,000-ft2 facility, retrofitted from a former Eli Lilly building. The newly launched 550-W dual-glass panel uses U.S. cells from ES Foundry and qualifies for the domestic content bonus under the current ITC rules.
The factory is expected to create more than 75 advanced manufacturing jobs this year. Production began last week, and Bila Solar aims to reach 300 MW of annual capacity in Phase 1, scaling up to 1 GW at full buildout.
Looking at the web site, the DF series Large panels about 29 square feet at 520 watts, it is the composite polymer cell covering that concerns me over the long term. I haven’t come across a polymer yet that doesn’t “yellow” in intense sun over years of exposure. At about 25 pounds it is about 60% less weight of the bifacial glass panels of around 61 pounds. The overall footprint puts these panels in the utility or commercial scale arena.