Canada-based solar panel maker Heliene is poised to add U.S.-sourced solar glass to its products manufactured south of the 49th Parallel. Martin Pochtaruk, CEO of Heliene, told pv magazine USA that it is receiving the first commercial shipments from Stewart Glass’ new production facilities in Ohio. The output will feed Heliene’s U.S. module factories in Minnesota.
Heliene has invested resources and research in Stewart’s effort to become a U.S. manufacturer of solar glass. According to Pochtaruk, the effort is a key aspect of the company’s strategy of establishing U.S.-source solar panels for the practical purpose of enabling developers and owners to meet domestic content requirements and avoid foreign entities of concern (FEOC) in order to make solar projects economically viable. Heliene offers customers a “drop down” menu approach to solar components so developers can pick and choose how much domestic content they need to move forward.
“Domestic content is percentages,” Pochtaruk said. The company could offer a client a module build outside the U.S.: zero domestic content. On the other side, Heliene could produce the same module with everything made in the U.S. except the glass because it wasn’t available. The partnership with Stewart Glass is changing that equation.
Pochtaruk said Stewart Glass approached Heliene a year ago with its plans to produce solar glass in the U.S. The Ohio facility it acquired had been making architectural glass and has since been converted to making laminated solar glass with the low iron content and high light transmission suitable for quality solar modules. Rather than simply waiting for the glass to roll, Heliene is invested in the startup process.
“When we engage with makers of U.S. wafers, for instance, they require a contract for a period of time at a minimum volume,” he said. “So, we have done the same with Stewart Glass. We have commitments to buy an annual volume from them going forward. And that means making prepayments: sending money and then being part of their startup.”
Glassmakers have to do a lot of groundwork to ensure that they will have pipelines of raw materials, customers for the finished product and a process that produces glass of high quality and low impurities before firing up the furnace. In April 2025, Stewart Glass, a maker of primarily automotive glass based in Michigan, acquired a facility in Ohio to begin produce solar glass and opened its first line in March 2026 that is capable of producing 150 tons per day. The company says it plans to open up a second production line in June 2027 with a projected output of 250 tons per day.
Pochtaruk points out that glassmaking is akin to steelmaking in that a manufacturer can’t let the furnaces go out without essentially destroying them. In the case of steel, countries turning to less energy intensive methods of steelmaking, principally using scrap in electric furnaces, risk making traditional blast furnaces capable of smelting steel from ore obsolete. This is fine as long as you have a supply of scrap. However, bricking the blast furnaces and losing the ability to produce steel from ore has strategic consequences.
The point is that glassmaking plants are not casually built.
Not all glass is created equal. Heliene specifies 3.2 mm glass for its products, which Pochtaruk says has the right mix of lightness, transmissibility, durability and hail resistance. Stewart has committed to this format. In addition, the company has been testing early runs of glass for PV properties and structural integrity using its extensive research and development capabilities. Heliene engineers and technicians are on-site at Stewart’s Ohio facility as it stands up operations.
That being said, while Heliene is counting on Stewart Glass output for its products, Pochtaruk readily admits that his company can’t possibly absorb 100% of its output. Other module makers will inevitably queue up for U.S. solar glass. This is even desirable as higher output and economic success means lower cost all around.
“In the current environment, solar project financeability is now more front and center than ever,” he said. “Manufacturing in the U.S. is one way to achieve some of that financeability. Glass is an important part of solar manufacturing.”
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