ES Foundry Boosts Solar Cell Manufacturing Capacity to 3 GW at South Carolina Factory
U.S.-based ES Foundry is advancing its domestic production capacity after completing a 2-GW expansion of its one-year-old crystalline solar cell production factory in Greenwood County, South Carolina.
On Tuesday, the company’s first new solar cell came off the expanded assembly line, bringing its total annual manufacturing capacity to 3 GW. It comes as manufacturing platforms seek to reinforce production of critical solar components in the U.S. domestic solar supply chain.
ES Foundry aims to directly address this component gap in America’s solar manufacturing ecosystem through this latest expansion. The 400,000-square-foot Greenwood County facility will offer new capacity considerations for module manufacturers, developers, asset owners and engineering, procurement and construction contractors.
“The U.S. solar market does not need more announcements — it needs operating capacity, proven production and domestic suppliers that can support customers now,” said Alex Zhu, CEO of ES Foundry, in a statement.
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This Greenwood facility, first operational in January 2025, produces crystalline bifacial passivated emitter and rear contact (PERC) solar cells. It’s a technology designed to support solar applications, from utility-scale projects to distributed-generation systems. Compared to conventional solar cells, utilizing PERC technology is touted to offer a solar generation output rating of 22.8% to 23.6%, which is the production efficiency of the energy delivered to the cell by the sun.
ES Foundry claims its bifacial cells allow light on the rear of the panel to enter the cell and significantly boost overall power-generation efficiency. By producing solar cells domestically at scale, the company hopes to reduce supply chain uncertainty and strengthen domestic content strategies amid Foreign Entity of Concern (FEOC) restrictions imposed by the U.S. Department of Energy.
“Domestic solar cell manufacturing is not a future ambition — it is happening now in Greenwood, South Carolina,” Zhu added. “We are proud to help lead the next chapter of American solar manufacturing.”
Since launching operations, ES Foundry states it has hired more than 400 people, creating advanced manufacturing jobs across South Carolina.
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EnergyTech Staff
Rod Walton is head of content for EnergyTech.com. He has spent 17 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist.
Walton formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.
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