Suniva is betting that made-in-America solar cells are about to become one of the country’s most valuable manufacturing exports. The Norcross, Georgia-based cell maker said this week that it has closed an $835 million capital raise, a mixed debt-and-equity package that will fund a 4.5 GW greenfield fab in Laurens County, South Carolina and take the company’s total American-made monocrystalline silicon capacity to 5.5 GW.
Goldman and I Squared anchor the debt
The financing was co-led by senior secured credit facilities from funds managed by Goldman Sachs Alternatives and I Squared Capital, with a second-lien facility from JBA Asset Management. Equity came from long-time backer Lion Point Capital plus Electron Capital Partners, Orion Infrastructure Capital and Rubric Capital Management. Roth Capital Partners was lead placement agent, with J.P. Morgan acting as sole structuring agent. Connor Arras, Managing Director of Climate Credit at Goldman Sachs Alternatives, called Suniva a company "scaling from a position of strength," citing already-locked-in domestic supply relationships and long-term customer commitments covering the majority of its planned Laurens output.
Laurens County: 621,000 sq ft, 564 jobs, online in 2027
The 621,468 square-foot building shell is already complete, and the $600 million project is targeted to reach mechanical completion in late 2027 with full ramp in 2028. South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster hailed the 564 new advanced-manufacturing jobs, calling the deal a boost to U.S. energy independence. Suniva CEO Tony Etnyre said the company remains the only U.S.-owned solar cell manufacturer operating at commercial scale, and pitched Laurens as the anchor of a much larger domestic PV supply chain.
Reverse merger with SUNation still on track
Suniva announced in June 2026 that it would combine with residential and commercial solar installer SUNation Energy (Nasdaq: SUNE) in a reverse-merger that will keep SUNation’s Nasdaq listing under the Suniva name. The deal, which requires a Form S-4 registration and shareholder approvals, is expected to give the combined business a fully-funded expansion runway and an end-to-end U.S. solar platform from cells to rooftops. Suniva now sits alongside other American cell and module manufacturers benefiting from the Section 45X advanced manufacturing tax credit that has driven record utility-scale solar investment in 2026.
Reporting based on coverage from Suniva/Business Wire, Yahoo Finance and pv magazine USA.