CPS casts eye on U.S. solar panel glass plant, keeps other on Selkirk

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 28/01/2025 (224 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Canadian Premium Sand Inc. is negotiating with a potential strategic partner for a joint venture seeking the construction of a solar panel glass manufacturing facility in the United States.

It may turn out Calgary-based CPS will be able to build the U.S. plant before the much larger facility it has been trying to establish in Selkirk for the past three years.

CEO Glenn Leroux said the potential U.S. development does not mean the company is still not intent on building northeast of Winnipeg, where it already has an option to purchase a 121-acre parcel of land.

“Everyone, including myself, would much prefer that we were going full bore on Selkirk,” he said. “But a project of this size does not have a linear path. There are so many external influences that affect things along the way.”

CPS has been trying to raise close to $1 billion for the Selkirk plant, including amassing some $300 million in various forms of federal and provincial support (contingent on the company raising the remaining amount to build the plant).

Duane Nicol, chief administrative officer for the City of Selkirk, said he does not believe CPS interest in building in the U.S. will scuttle the Manitoba project.

“The fact that they are looking at a partnership with an experienced, well- capitalized large firm with a quicker pathway to market for its products makes the Selkirk project more likely, not less likely,” he said.

If CPS is able to show the market it is capable of pulling off such a project, it might make investors more inclined to also invest in the Selkirk development.

“(CPS) seem dedicated to building at the site in Selkirk and we are, too,” said Nicol.

In the meantime, geo-political conditions have changed. In addition to potential tariffs being imposed on Canadian goods entering the U.S. (where almost all of CPS production would eventually be shipped) there are increasing incentives for U.S. customers to buy ‘Made in America’ products.

The potential partner CPS is negotiating with — a large U.K.-based company that owns a shuttered container glass manufacturing facility in an unnamed southern U.S. state — may also be able to contribute capital to the project in addition to being able to provide a plant with an environmental licence already in place.

Leroux said the existing U.S. building and its potential development is seen to be about half the size of the proposed Selkirk plant project.

CPS’s journey into solar panel glass manufacturing arose out of its ownership and development of a silica sand deposit near Hollow Water First Nation on the east side of Lake Winnipeg.

It originally intended to market the sand to the oil fracking industry, but pivoted to solar glass when it was determined to be a more lucrative market.

In addition to low-cost, environmentally friendly hydroelectricity from Manitoba Hydro, the Selkirk plant seeks achieve other cost advantages from shipping its sand less than an hour’s-drive away.

Leroux said a potential U.S. plant might have to access sand on the open market, at least in the early stages.

“We would rather not have to do that, but if that’s how we have to start, we will,” said Leroux.

The U.S. project has not yet been given the green light, but it did receive a boost this week, when the company was approved for a US$75 million tax credit.

While a company like CPS is likely some years away from profitability, when such a tax credit could be utilized, it is legal to sell such tax credits at a discount on the secondary market in the U.S., turning it into capital that could be used to pay the upfront costs of construction.

Because of the demand for solar glass panels in the U.S. – and the current dearth of North American production — potential customers and investors have been urging CPS to build production capacity in the U.S., officials said.

New incentives installed by the former Biden administration that only apply to ‘Made in America’ products, prompted CPS to investigate the U.S. market, leading to the current development.

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca