CPS announces expansion of its planned solar glass factory to 6 GW

Canadian Premium Sand Inc (CPS), which plans to build a structured glass manufacturing facility for solar module production, has increased the dimensions of the project. »Due to higher-than-expected demand,« the 2021 plan for a capacity of 550 tons per day has been increased to 800 tons. This corresponds – naturally depending on the efficiency of the solar modules for which the glass is used – to an annual production capacity of around six gigawatts (GW).
The reason for the expansion of the plans are offtake agreements with module manufacturers. Last July, CPS had already announced corresponding preliminary negotiations with Hanwha Solutions Corporation, which belongs to the South Korean Hanwha Group. In the meantime, according to CPS, there is an agreement to purchase a »material portion« of its own production by Hanwha Solutions subsidiary Hanwha Q Cells, which plans to increase its module production capacity in the U.S. from 1.7 GW to 8.4 GW per year.
Other offtake agreements, according to CPS, are with Switzerland's Meyer Burger AG, whose annual production capacity in the U.S. is expected to increase to two GW, and with Canada's Heliene Inc. which is also targeting two GW of capacity. Overall, the three agreements mean that CPS’s planned capacity is at least 62 percent utilized, »with optionality to increase to 77 percent.« In addition, there are memorandums of understanding for the purchase of solar glass, which would be equivalent to 170 percent capacity utilization.
An Environmental Act License for the planned factory in Selkirk in the Canadian province of Manitoba has been in place since the beginning of May. CPS has concluded a »preliminary construction agreement« with a consortium for the turnkey construction of the factory.
© PHOTON