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European renewables co. expands into US with Houston-area solar panel manufacturing facility

A Turkish solar panel manufacturing company has opened its first US location just outside of Houston. Photo courtesy of Elin Energy

A European company opened a new 225,000-square-foot solar panel assembly facility in Waller County, and it has the capacity to manufacture 2,000 megawatts annually.

Turkish company Elin Energy opened it new space in Twinwood Business Park with the help from Houston real estate development company The Welcome Group and Houston construction company KDW. It's Elin Energy's first location in the United States.

The Waller facility aims to “catapult the company’s growth in the Western hemisphere and reinforce its commitment to sustainable energy production and innovation,” according to a news release. Elin’s panel designs boost the productivity of solar panels by requiring less space than traditional systems.

Photo courtesy of Elin Energy

“The facility [Elin has leased] was designed with generous bay spacing, clear height and upgraded power to accommodate and upgraded power to accommodate a variety of manufacturing needs,” Welcome Wilson Jr., president and CEO of the Welcome Group, says in the release. “Elin Energy’s state-of-the-art solar manufacturing equipment easily fit into the building footprint. The first equipment lines are installed, and the future equipment lines have been ordered.”

One of Europe's top producers of photovoltaic panels, Elin Energy's new facility features two solar panel manufacturing lines. The Waller County Economic Development Partnership and efforts from the state helped bring Elin to the area. Elin aims to bring around 100 jobs by the end of their first year of operations with an estimated 450 by the end of year seven.

KDW completed the build in under 6 months.

“The equipment delivery demanded an aggressive schedule which made it essential that all parties involved have a heightened level of coordination and cooperation,” KDW Construction Manager Bryan Harrison says in the release.

Photo courtesy of Elin Energy

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A View From HETI

Google will soon be able to pull from energyRe’s portfolio of more than 600 megawatts of new solar and solar storage projects in South Carolina. Photo via Pixabay

EnergyRe, a developer of large-scale renewable energy projects with headquarters in Houston and New York, has signed a renewable energy agreement that will allow Google to invest in and purchase renewable energy credits (RECs) from its projects under development in South Carolina.

Google will be able to pull from energyRe’s portfolio of more than 600 megawatts of new solar and solar storage projects in the state.

The agreement marks the second partnership between the companies. Last year, energyRe and Google signed a 12-year power purchase agreement in which Google would purchase renewable energy from a 435-megawatt solar project. EnergyRe would supply electricity and RECs generated from the solar project to Google to power the equivalent of more than 56,000 homes.

"Strengthening the grid by deploying more reliable and clean energy is crucial for supporting the digital infrastructure that businesses and individuals depend on," Amanda Peterson Corio, head of data center energy at Google, said in a news release. "Our collaboration with energyRe will help power our data centers and the broader economic growth of South Carolina."

EnergyRe's work includes developing high-voltage transmission, onshore and offshore wind, large-scale solar, distributed generation and storage assets in markets around the United States. Its national onshore utility-scale portfolio includes 1,520 megawatts of contracted solar assets and 398 megawatt-hours of contracted battery storage assets.

"This agreement is a milestone in energyRe's mission to develop innovative and impactful clean energy solutions for the future," Miguel Prado, CEO of energyRe, added in the news release."We're honored to partner with Google to help advance their ambitious sustainability and decarbonization objectives while delivering dependable, locally sourced clean energy to meet growing energy demands."

Google aims to achieve net-zero carbon emissions across its operations and value chain by 2030.

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