The era of a global free market is quickly dying, leading to a need for more and more core manufacturing within countries’ own borders. Unless leadership in the US changes dramatically, and leadership in the EU changes to some degree, and China and India loosen up their requirements significantly, this is the way the world is going. Considering that President Trump, President Biden, and President Trump again have continued the protectionist trend for a decade now, it does seem wise to build solar module and battery factories in the US (for now), as solar panels and batteries are critical products of the coming years and decades.
Along those lines, Chinese solar company Trina Solar has just completed the sales of a huge, 5-gigawatt solar module factory in Texas to T1 Energy, formerly called FREYR Battery. Note that we interviewed the CEO of FREYR in early 2023, when it was going to build a giant battery factory in Georgia. We talked quite a bit about the benefits of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 passed by Democrats under President Joe Biden. As soon as Donald Trump took office again, though, the factory was killed. The good news is that FREYR stayed in the US with a shift in focus toward solar power. Hence this big solar module factory acquisition.
In fact, T1 Energy’s acquisition of the factory was initiated and approved by the board of directors back in November 2024. It just took about a year to finalize the process. Trina Solar announced full transfer of all assets and equity on December 23, 2025.
Trina Solar does own about 17% share of T1 Energy’s stock as a result of the deal. It also received $100 million in cash.
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Zach is tryin’ to help society help itself one word at a time. He spends most of his time here on CleanTechnica as its director, chief editor, and CEO. Zach is recognized globally as an electric vehicle, solar energy, and energy storage expert. He has presented about electric vehicles and renewable energy at conferences in India, the UAE, Ukraine, Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, the USA, Canada, and Curaçao.
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