Texas Sends Yet Another Solar Manufacturing Love Letter To The US

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Last Updated on: 16th August 2025, 11:27 am

With its abundant sunshine, relaxed regulatory environment, and an ever more urgent need for more kilowatts, Texas has already established itself as a national leader in installed solar capacity. Texas is also doing for others what it has done to itself. The state’s booming solar manufacturing sector is sending solar equipment all over the US to help keep the renewable energy transition moving along, regardless of the abrupt shift in federal policy.

Texas Sends A Solar Manufacturing Love Letter To The Other 49 States

To be clear, all is not roses. Some Texas lawmakers have been trying to throttle down the pace of solar development within Texas. They may yet succeed, but in the meantime, solar manufacturing has become an economic force to be reckoned with. After all, who wants to monkey-wrench thousands of new factory jobs?

A case in point is T1 Energy. T1 is the newly refreshed brand of the former Norway-based firm Freyr Battery, which moved its headquarters to Austin and turned to the ripe field of solar manufacturing in Texas after dropping plans for an EV battery factory in Georgia.

T1 already has a one-gigawatt-scale solar module factory in the works in Texas, and now the company is racing full speed ahead with plans for a second factory in Texas, to supply its first factory with made-in-Texas solar cells.

As for where the polysilicon for the solar cells will come from, it’s not coming from Texas, but it will be made in the US. Earlier today, T1 and the US legacy firm Corning Incorporated let word slip that T1 will source its polysilicon and solar wafers from Corning’s Hemlock venture in Michigan. The terms of a newly announced strategic partnership call for Corning to deliver wafers to T1’s G2_Austin facility, where they will be used to manufacture solar cells. “These cells will then be used to manufacture solar modules at T1’s operational G1_Dallas site,” T1 explains.

Location, Location, Location

Although the chaotic state of tariff and tax policy in the US has put a damper on some (but not all) solar development in the US for the time being, the solar manufacturing side is a different kettle of fish. Industry stakeholders anticipate that the White House’s oft-stated support for onshoring will enable solar factories to keep on churning out the goods, regardless of other policy variables.

“Supply chain certainty remains a top priority for customers, and the expanded agreement between T1 and Corning delivers a more stable and predictable supply of domestically sourced solar components,” T1 explains.

“By connecting American-made polysilicon, wafers, cells, and modules, this vertically integrated model supports long-term planning, regulatory compliance, and energy resilience,” they add for good measure.

Solar Manufacturing Is Forever

The US was first out of the box in the global solar manufacturing movement back in the 1950s, riding demand for the expensive little gadgets in aerospace applications and other market niches where price is no object. By the end of the 20th century, though, the US industry was running far behind its overseas competitors. Renewed support for renewable energy at the federal level kickstarted the domestic industry back to life on the heels of the 2008 financial meltdown. Despite some high-profile failures (Solyndra, much?), the policy was an overwhelming success overall. By the beginning of this year, the solar factory muscles were flexing all over the US.

If anyone hopes to stamp out that fire, they’ll find tough going. Just take a look at Corning. The company has been introducing waves of commercial-ready technology into the market since the 1850s, and it’s not about to stop now. “We’re accelerating the ramp of our advanced manufacturing capabilities to support a resilient U.S. solar supply chain,” explains Corning VP and General Manager AB Ghosh, who is also Chairman and CEO of the company’s Hemlock Semiconductor branch.

“Corning is proud to help meet the growing need for solar products made in the United States,” Ghosh emphasized in a press statement. “We’re accelerating the ramp of our advanced manufacturing capabilities to support a resilient U.S. solar supply chain.”

“By building foundational infrastructure in Michigan, we’re adding good-paying manufacturing jobs, strengthening the U.S. solar industry and advancing a more energy-independent future for the country,” he added for good measure.

T1 CEO and Board Chairman Daniel Barcelo also chipped in his two cents. “Together with Corning, we intend to accelerate America’s ability to manufacture leading-edge solar solutions, support a total of nearly 6,000 American jobs, and promote American energy independence,” he said.

Next Steps For The US Energy Transition

If you’re wondering why Freyr Battery dropped its EV battery plans for Georgia like a hot potato last year and turned its attention to solar manufacturing, that’s a good question. Among other factors, Freyr was already committed to a Nordic-centered supply chain for its semi-solid stationary and EV lithium-ion batteries as of last year, but other battery stakeholders were already beginning to drop hints of a move to low-cost LFP (lithium-iron-phosphate) batteries. Last year, Ford also hinted that LFP was in its future electrification plans.

Unless Freyr was prepared to make the pivot, the writing was on the wall. Sure enough, in recent weeks, both Ford and General Motors confirmed plans to introduce LFP in the near future.

Meanwhile, Corning was already hammering away at the domestic solar manufacturing market through its Hemlock Semiconductor venture in Michigan. Corning put up $900 million for a majority stake in the firm last year, catapulting the state into the solar investment big leagues and adding more than 1,000 jobs, to boot.

There being no such thing as a free lunch, the US solar market is not out of the woods yet. The Republican majority in Congress put another crimp in the US energy transition when it passed the new “OBBA” tax bill in July. The Treasury Department followed up with an extra kick in the pants when it issued guidance interpreting the new law.

The Solar Energy Industries Association promptly accused the White House of making a “side deal” with fossil energy stakeholders and their allies.

“The Treasury Department’s new guidance to further restrict energy tax credits is part of an unprecedented side deal the administration made with anti-clean energy ideologues to undermine Congress and further harm America’s solar industry,” SEIA president and CEO Abigail Ross Hopper said last week, on August 15.

“This is a blatant rejection of what Congress passed in H.R. 1, and it threatens thousands of small businesses across the country that are the backbone of our clean energy economy,” she added, with H.R. 1 meaning the new tax bill.

Hold on to your hats. SEIA is currently preparing a follow-on response, most likely a legal one. If you have any thoughts about that, drop a note in the comment thread. Better yet, contact your representatives in Congress and tell them what you think.

Photo (cropped): Despite the abrupt shift in energy policy this year, Texas continues to grow its footprint in the solar manufacturing sector (courtesy of T1 Energy).