Two solar manufacturers join forces to bring steel-framed solar modules
MOUNTAIN IRON, Minn. (KTTC) – For more than 60 years, aluminum frames have been the standard for solar manufacturing. A recent partnership between Heliene Inc. and Origami Solar is changing this standard by bringing steel-framed solar modules to the North America market.
“We have been testing and trialing the product for over a year,” Heliene CEO Martin Pochtaruk said. “This was not something that was done overnight.”
Heliene Inc., a Minnesota-based company, is a solar photovoltaic module manufacturer that has been producing solar modules for the past 15 years. Pochtaruk said this partnership with Origami Solar is an effort to strengthen the domestic solar supply chain.
“The price of steel in the US, as well as the price of aluminum in the US, will go up—both for imported materials as well as for domestic materials,” he said. “For imported materials, [this is] because you have an import duty, and for domestic materials, because demand is going up and prices can and will increase.”
“The key thing that steel does [is] it is fully domestic,” Origami Solar CEO Gregg Patterson added. “We’ve got a very robust steel ecosystem in the US.”
Origami Solar, a California-based company, is a developer of steel solar panel frames with the goal of changing the aforementioned aluminum standard. According to Patterson, the company’s work is driven by how steel is materially cheaper than aluminum, and eliminates the need to import due to a domestic supply chain present in the U.S.
“The uncertainty of anything that’s imported is just really tough from a business continuity perspective,” Patterson said. “We’re creating jobs that are going to be domestic and a full supply chain, from the steel mills to the fabricators to all the logistics, that is 100% U.S. made.”
Pochtaruk said the partnership between Heliene Inc. and Origami Solar promotes the country’s energy security and non-reliance on China.
“Solar energy production is the cheapest fuel in the United States,” Pochtaruk said. “There’s more investment on solar than there is in any other technology for the simple reason that it provides the best return.”
Patterson explained this domestication is important, because dependence on foreign supply for energy production poses national security risks. He said, “The domestication of solar energy is essential for America’s economy and the creation of jobs that are extremely valuable.”
Heliene’s modules with Origami Solar’s steel frames will be available starting in April 2025.
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