Silfab Solar Inc., a solar photovoltaic module manufacturer, has closed a second investment round led by ARC Financial Corp. to help fund Silfab’s next expansion of manufacturing to include domestic PV cell and module production at a third facility to open in the United States.
The $125 million investment from ARC’s Energy Fund 9 includes co-investments by Manulife Financial Corp., Ontario Power Generation Inc. Pension Plan, CF Private Equity and BDC Capital’s Cleantech Practice.
“Silfab is ideally situated to meet North America’s growing appetite for domestically manufactured cutting-edge solar products,” says Brian Boulanger, CEO of ARC. “ARC remains confident that Silfab will be a driver in cleantech manufacturing and U.S.-engineered product innovation. Silfab continues to implement an impressive growth plan built around its unwavering commitment to manufacture high-quality products and its decades of innovation and experience.”
Silfab’s third facility is anticipated to be fully operational in 2024 with an initial annual capability of 1 GW of cell production and an additional 1.2 GW of PV solar module assembly. The new facility is expected to generate more than 800 new jobs.
Other details of the new facility, including location, will be announced at a future date.
“Domestic production of solar cells represents a strategic effort to further manage our supply chain and to apply our technical prowess from the ground up for a comprehensive manufacturing process,” says Paolo Maccario, Silfab’s CEO. “Silfab has grown more than 40 percent since ARC’s initial support. We are thankful for our collaborative relationship with ARC and with the Biden administration and its Inflation Reduction Act, both enabling us to accelerate our U.S. manufacturing strategy.”
ARC’s first investment, announced in September 2021, enabled Silfab to make further enhancements to production lines at existing Washington facilities in order to deploy next-generation PV modules to North American consumer, business and institutional markets.
