March 27 Reuters Two small solar manufacturers on Wednesday said they are joining forces to make panels that will enable their customers, U.S. solar project developers, to collect on a lucrative new federal subsidy for Americanmade clean energy equipment.

The agreement between Georgiabased solar cell producer Suniva and Canada39;s Heliene, which has panelmaking operations in Minnesota, is being touted by the Biden administration as evidence that Inflation Reduction Act IRA subsidies are succeeding in building a domestic solar manufacturing industry to compete with China.

Before this Administration, solar companies across the United States were struggling, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who will visit Suniva39;s Norcross, Georgia, facility later on Wednesday, said in a statement provided to Reuters. She noted that 20 of U.S. solar manufacturing jobs were lost between 2016 and 2020.

Suniva itself is restarting an idled factory.

Now, though there remain significant challenges, Inflation Reduction Act tax credits are helping change the game, Yellen added.

Under the threeyear, 400 million deal, Suniva will supply cells to Heliene, which will assemble them into panels. The products will be able to supply about 2 gigawatts of solar projects, according to Suniva. That would be enough capacity to power about 350,000 homes.

Solar project builders that use panels containing Americanmade cells will be able to claim a 10 tax credit for using domestic content, according to…