Norwegian Solar Manufacturing Company Plans New Factory In Tulsa

A Norwegian solar manufacturing company is expanding to the U.S., expecting to create a link in the solar supply chain that’s now almost exclusively in China.

NorSun plans to build a 5GW solar wafer production plant on an industrial site owned by the Tulsa Airport Improvement Trust. The company expects to invest $620 million into the project and hire 320 people.

NorSun CEO Erik Løkke-Øwre said the company will break ground next year and begin production in 2026.

“We would very much like to be a part of a larger ecosystem. We may be the first ones here, but we really hope that Tulsa and the locations here can be attractive for other companies as well,” he said.

Løkke-Øwre spoke to a gathering of the Tulsa Renewable Energy Alliance, a coalition of companies working on renewables - like solar.

Løkke-Øwre said NorSun considered 73 sites in the U.S., attracted by incentives for solar production in the Inflation Reduction Act.

NorSun settled on Tulsa because of the workforce and available training, he said.

“We were visiting the university and school, and we really, really liked what we saw in Tulsa Tech.”

Daniel Regan led the recruitment effort for the Tulsa Airport Improvement Trust, which he said will likely lead to other companies moving here.

“There's a lot of activity in that space right now and we continue to talk to other partners, other manufacturers who would be a part of that ecosystem.”

Løkke-Øwre said NorSun already has buyers for the full capacity of the factory they intend to build. The site has room to double the factory size and production, but Løkke-Øwre said at first, “Our main focus is to actually build a successful business in the US, which is based on ingots and wafers, which is our core competency for today.”