PINTO SOLAR
PINTO SOLAR MANUFACTURING USA
At Canigou one of our latest project is Project Pinto, Pinto is a highly automated GW solar panel production facility located in the heart of Western US on tribal lands. This site is also the location of a large scale utility solar project which will be one of Pinto’s first customers.
We named our facility Pinto to link our panels to the long history of the tribal heartlands in the west, the partnership with the Ute Mountain Ute tribe is an essential component of the Pinto facility and it is named in honour of that partnership.
The Pinto horse holds a special place in Ute Mountain Ute culture, representing strength, beauty, and a connection to the spiritual realm. These horses are wild and can be found in large herds on the Ute Mountain.
Pinto Lines
2 customisable lines
500MW/yr each line
Italian engineered equipment – Canigou are partnering with Ecoprogetti to source the manufacturing equipment
Customisable batch orders >100MW
Initial run will be 550W M10 p-type bifacial glass/glass with frame
Location
The Pinto plant will be located at the heart of tribal lands in the Four Corners region of Colorado. This is possible thanks to Canigou’s partnership and strong relationship with the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe.
Local to large scale utility solar projects: One of the key reasons the Pinto project is happening is due to it’s location to large scale solar projects. Pinto will be a main supplier of solar panels to the Sun Bear project, a 1GW to 5GW solar farm in development in the Four Corners region. Studies show this region is in the most favourable belt for solar energy production to be between 15°N/S and 35°N/S. Meaning that there a multiple large scale solar projects in this region that require panel production.
Reasoning
Location?
One of the main reasons for panel manufacture in the US is to maintain a high quality product. Pinto will strive to keep as much materiel used to make the panels as local as possible meaning that they will be almost wholly made from USA produced materiel.
Why now?
A principal problem in the solar market is a backlog on solar panel production and long wait times for panels produced in Asia. Pinto is aiming to supply that demand with local US manufactured panels to meet the demand of the large scale utility solar projects in the US.
How much?
Using almost uniquely US materiel for production not only reduces transport costs it also means that Pinto will meet the IRA criteria for the domestic content bonus credit.
Inflation Reduction Act
Domestic Content
The law includes a breakthrough tax credit for “Domestic ContentSection 45x of the I.R.A. 2022 sets a $0.07 per watt solar panel manufacturing tax incentive. The incentive is available for 5 years after starting the manufacturing plant. Members are expected to receive a calculated amount of tax credit flow-through to shield taxes on distributable income for the 5 years.
CANIGOU PROJECTS WITH GREEN HYDROGEN
The Canigou Sun Bear project, situated in Colorado, will be a 1-5GW solar farm connected to the national grid. We are currently evaluating if this project could be linked to a green hydrogen project using electricity produced by the solar panels to power electrolysis.
The hydrogen produced could then be used in multiple ways, either as a gas or to be converted into ammonia to then be used as ammonia as a feedstock or to be transported as ammonia but then cracked back into hydrogen.
