A China-based solar cell and module manufacturer is locating its first U.S. manufacturing plant in the Phoenix metro at a newly built industrial facility.

JA Solar, which has corporate offices across the globe, signed a lease in December for a 763,410-square-foot building at the GO|99 South project located at the southeast corner of 99th Avenue and Buckeye Road in west Phoenix. The project will represent a $60 million investment.

JA Solar will manufacture photovoltaic products at the facility including high-efficiency solar panels, also known as photovoltaic modules, for commercial and residential rooftops and for utility-scale solar power plant deployment with annual production capacity of two gigawatts.

The plant will use automated assembly lines and is expected to be operational by Q4 of 2023. JA Solar is also bringing more than 600 new jobs to the Phoenix plant, which the Arizona Commerce Authority said will be the largest manufacturing site of solar and photovoltaic products in Arizona with a capacity of two gigawatts.

“We are very excited to be able to set up the first U.S. solar module manufacturing facility in Arizona to provide our customers in the U.S. the flexibility and ease of access to JA Solar’s high-performance PV products,” said Aiqing Yang, president of JA Solar, in a statement. "Solar is a critical part of renewable energy and we are thrilled to be a part of the effort to meet the goal of carbon neutrality by 2050 in the U.S.”

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By Audrey Jensen - Reporter, Phoenix Business Journal