• Solar PV panels capture sunlight, causing electrons in the panel’s silicon cells to release energy that becomes direct current electricity. An inverter converts the DC into alternating current electricity, making it usable for homes and businesses. Excess electricity can be stored in a battery or fed back into the power grid. Additional electricity can be pulled from the grid if you need more power than your solar panels can generate.
    Solar PV panels capture sunlight, causing electrons in the panel’s silicon cells to release energy that becomes direct current electricity. An inverter converts the DC into alternating current electricity, making it usable for homes and businesses. Excess electricity can be stored in a battery or fed back into the power grid. Additional electricity can be pulled from the grid if you need more power than your solar panels can generate.
    STAFF REPORT

    WILMER – A Chinese solar panel company is closer to winning potential tax breaks for its forthcoming $200 million manufacturing facility in Wilmer.

    Trina announced in September its plans for the 1.3 million-square-foot facility at Wilmer’s Tradepoint 45 West development. 

    Trina Solar received the endorsement of the Dallas County Commissioners Court to join the DFW Foreign Trade Zone on last Tuesday, a crucial step in signaling to federal regulators the formal support of local taxing jurisdictions. 

    The FTZ designation means the company would not pay local property taxes on inventory that has been imported or will be exported.

    It would cost Dallas County about $86,287 a year in tax revenue starting in 2025, according to a briefing prepared for the Dallas County commissioners. 

    The comparable annual loss for the hospital district would be about $87,800.

    Upon completion, Trina’s Wilmer facility is expected to employ 1,500 full-time workers, bringing with it a payroll of about $81 million. 

    The company plans to invest about $200 million in property and equipment in the project that will eventually produce solar panels, according to a news release.

    Trina expects the facility, located at 1200 N. Sunrise Road, to be completed this year.

    For Trina, a foreign trade zone designation would more broadly allow Trina to clear U.S. Customs faster, reduce customs duties, lower U.S. Customs and processing fees and defer duty payments while goods remain in the zone.

    With Trina’s plans to distribute its solar panels in the U.S., an FTZ would allow the company to pay the final product rate on imported components that normally may carry higher tariffs.

    The briefing prepared for the Dallas County commissioners said the benefits would “provide tax-stability and help ensure Trina Solar’s long-term viability.”

    The project marks the company’s first solar panel manufacturing facility in the Western Hemisphere.

    “Trina’s goal in building this facility is to begin to create an ecosystem of American manufacturing that can serve the burgeoning U.S. solar market,” Trina Solar U.S. president Steven Zhu said at the time. The manufacturing facility is expected to employ as many as 1,500 people.

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