Canadian Company Reboots Northern Minnesota Solar Panel Factory
MOUNTAIN IRON, MN—Heliene Inc. is restarting production in a once shuttered northern Minnesota solar panel manufacturing plant here. The plant was previously occupied by the solar company Silicon Energy and will be retooled with the help of a $3.5 million state loan package. Ontario-based Heliene, Inc. has begun operations in the 25,000-square-foot factory, and it plans to hire 130 employees by September.
The facility is a remnant of Minnesota’s small solar manufacturing industry that largely disappeared after a subsidy program called “Made In Minnesota” ended in 2017. Heliene was a participant, but nearly all the other companies in the program have closed their facilities in the state or gone out of business.