Norway-based solar energy component manufacturer NorSun says it plans to spend $620 million to build its first U.S.-based factory—a 5-GW facility in Tulsa, Okla., that will produce silicon ingots and wafers for solar cells and panels, the firm announced.

NorSun said it chose a 60-acre site at Tulsa International Airport, with construction set to begin in late 2024. Contractor selection status was not disclosed. The project is in cooperation with the Oklahoma Dept. of Commerce and the Tulsa Airports Improvement Trust, said a late June state announcement that cited "an attractive economic package" from the state, city and airport trust but did not disclose dollar-amount incentives.

Plant startup is set for 2026, "making the Oklahoma facility among the first in the U.S. to produce high-performing silicon ingots and wafers, currently the biggest bottleneck in achieving a fully domestic solar supply chain," said the state. 

The Tulsa site offers space to expand production up to 10 GW, NorSun said.

“Our business plan has an ambitious timeline ... to meet the critical need for American-made energy,” said company CEO Erik Løkke-Øwre, who cited Oklahoma's "manufacturing ecosystem," as well as workforce supply and expansion potential. Oslo-based NorSun last year received a $60-million grant from the European Union Innovation Fund to expand its current 1-GW factory in Årdal, Norway to 3 GW. It also has raised $8.5 million from equity investors last year. 

Since its startup in 2007, the firm has been the leading western producer of monocrystalline ingots and wafers for ultra-high efficiency solar cells.