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Solar glass provider to expand production by 6 GW to meet demand
Canadian Premium Sand will expand production to provide its solar panel glass to Qcells, Meyer Burger, and Heliene, each of which signed large supply agreements.
May 15, 2023 Ryan Kennedy
Rendering of the solar glass manufacturing facility.
Image: Canadian Premium Sand
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Patterned solar PV glass provider Canadian Premium Sand (CPS) is making steps to expand its business considerably after signing offtake agreements with major panel manufacturers Qcells, Meyer Burger, and Heliene.
The Calgary, Alberta-based company announced it will launch an 800 ton-per-day solar glass facility, expanding beyond its original plans to add 550 tons-per-day. This equates to about 6 GW per year of solar glass production, driven largely by strong demand for U.S. solar manufacturing.
The facility will be capable of producing a range of patterned solar glass specifications, including standard 3.2 mm thick front-glass for the residential and commercial rooftop market as well as 2.0 mm thick glass required for the bifacial utility market.
The company has entered into a preliminary construction agreement for the production site that places a maximum cost of $880 million. The offtake agreements combine for a minimum of 62% of the company’s planned output capacity, with the option to expand to about 77% of planned output capacity.
“With strong revenue visibility through binding commercial off-take agreements and a high degree of certainty with capital costs and operational performance through our EPC agreement we are confident in our ability to commercialize this high return project, supporting the global energy transition,” said Glenn Leroux, president and chief executive officer, Canadian Premium Sand.
The company expects the project to provide $300 million to $330 million of annual revenues, $170 million to $190 million of annual earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), and over 18% unlevered before-tax internal rate of return.
On May 3, 2023, the province of Manitoba issued the company an Environmental Act license to construct and operate its proposed patterned solar glass manufacturing facility on the site secured in the city of Selkirk, Manitoba. The receipt of this license secures a regulatory requirement and removes a path item from the development schedule.
The new facility being built by CPS uses the high-purity, low-iron silica sand from its wholly owned Wanipigow quarry leases. CPS said it intends to power the facility with renewable energy, which reduces the carbon footprint of producing the glass. The company also said it plans to use recycled water in the manufacturing process along with waste heat recovery.
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