TOYO to expand by 2 GW to Ethiopia's solar cell capacity
Posted on : Wednesday, 2nd April 2025
The Vietnamese solar solutions business TOYO has revealed plans to expand its capacity from 2 GW to 4 GW at its Ethiopian solar cell production facility.
To increase output, TOYO plans to invest $47 million. Next to its current automated production location in Hawassa, Ethiopia, the company intends to lease a 28,000 square meter facility.
With a 2 GW production capability, the company has finished building the first phase of the solar cell factory. At the location, TOYO is installing, testing, and testing equipment.
It is anticipated that formal manufacturing would start early in 2025's second quarter.
Even before the first phase of the manufacturing plant was finished, TOYO announced that the expansion was in reaction to the demand for its high-performance solar cells around the world. The company has already gotten a lot of interest and orders for its solar cells.
The building of the addition is anticipated to be finished by July, with work starting in April of this year. By August 2025, the company anticipates starting production at the expanded facility.
Additionally, the company has finished the initial stage of building its solar cell plant in Vietnam's Phu Tho Province. The facility started commercial production in October 2023 and has a 4 GW capacity.
The most recent World Energy Outlook from the International Energy Agency states that solar module manufacturing capacity is expanding quickly and might reach 1,200 GW annually by the end of this decade.
According to the report, over 90% of the world's capacity is currently accounted by five highly concentrated countries, with China at the top in solar manufacturing. The remaining four are Thailand (2%), Malaysia (3%), India (3%), and Vietnam (5% of the global market). Together with the European Union, the next five largest solar producers - the US, Korea, Cambodia, Turkey, and Chinese Taipei – each account for about 1% of the world market.
