Nextracker Acquires Origami Solar for $53 Million, Entering the Solar Panel Frame Market
Nextracker acquisition of Origami Solar supports industry transition to steel solar panel frames to accelerate installation, enhance durability, reduce carbon footprint, and enable local supply chains. Photo: Nextracker
Key Points
- Nextracker announced the acquisition of Origami Solar, Inc. on September 8, 2025, in an all-cash transaction of approximately $53 million, plus future contingent earnout consideration.
- Origami Solar develops roll-formed steel solar panel frames, offering greater structural strength and a lower carbon footprint compared to the extruded aluminum frames that have dominated the market for over 45 years.
- Nextracker cites a total addressable market in excess of $750 million in the United States alone, representing a substantial new revenue opportunity beyond its existing tracker platform.
- Origami’s frames are engineered as drop-in replacements for aluminum, using standard industry dimensions to allow seamless integration into existing panel manufacturing lines.
- The acquisition is Nextracker’s fourth technology deal in approximately 15 months, following Ojjo, Solar Pile International, and Bentek Corporation.
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Deal Overview
Nextracker announced on September 8, 2025 that it had agreed to acquire Origami Solar, Inc., a Bend, Oregon-based company that has developed roll-formed steel technology for solar panel frames. The all-cash transaction is valued at approximately $53 million, with additional consideration contingent on future milestones.
The deal marks Nextracker’s entry into the solar panel frame market, a segment that has been dominated by extruded aluminum since the earliest commercial solar installations. Origami Solar was founded specifically to commercialize steel as an alternative, addressing structural and supply chain limitations that have become more significant as panel sizes and wind loads on utility-scale tracking applications have grown.
For Nextracker, the acquisition is the latest step in a strategy to move beyond its core tracker hardware product and toward an integrated solar project platform. In roughly fifteen months preceding this deal, the company acquired Ojjo (truss foundations), Solar Pile International (helical pile foundations), and Bentek Corporation (electrical balance-of-system components).
Transaction Terms
| Term | Details |
|---|---|
| Transaction Value | ~$53 million (all-cash) |
| Additional Consideration | Future contingent earnout |
| Announcement Date | September 8, 2025 |
| Target Headquarters | Bend, Oregon, United States |
| U.S. TAM (Frames) | $750+ million |
| Fabrication Capacity | U.S.-based; partnerships in Ohio and Texas |
The earnout structure ties a portion of the consideration to Origami Solar’s post-closing commercial performance, rewarding the Origami team if the technology achieves commercial adoption targets within the Nextracker ecosystem. The combination of upfront cash and contingent consideration is consistent with Nextracker’s approach in recent acquisitions of Ojjo and Bentek.
Strategic Rationale
The case for steel panel frames rests on structural engineering fundamentals that have become increasingly relevant as solar panel technology has evolved. Modern utility-scale panels are larger and heavier than their predecessors, and single-axis trackers subject them to greater dynamic wind loads. Steel’s higher tensile strength relative to aluminum means a steel frame can meet the same structural requirements with less material, and the carbon intensity of steel production has been declining as electric arc furnace technology spreads.
“Solar panel frame technology has been relatively unchanged for over 45 years. During that time, the size and dynamic wind loads on solar panels have increased dramatically, especially in utility-scale tracking applications. From a structural engineering perspective, the shift from aluminum to steel is compelling — steel offers greater strength at competitive cost and significantly reduced carbon intensity. Most importantly, it helps to unlock opportunities for localized manufacturing from steel coil through final fabrication, while delivering real customer benefits like faster panel installation and improved long-term system performance. And with an estimated total addressable market in excess of $750 million in the U.S. alone, we see this as a substantial new business opportunity for Nextracker.”
— Dan Shugar, Founder and CEO, Nextracker
Supply chain localization is a central part of the pitch. Aluminum frame manufacturing is heavily concentrated in Asia, and domestic content requirements under the Inflation Reduction Act have created commercial pressure for U.S.-made alternatives. Steel coil, by contrast, is widely available from domestic producers, and Origami Solar’s roll-forming process can be executed at fabrication facilities in Ohio and Texas, enabling a supply chain that qualifies for domestic content incentives.
“Origami Solar was founded to drive the commercialization of steel frame technology and to realize the customer value and benefits this new technology can offer. Our team has solved key challenges around design, performance, and high-volume production. By joining forces with Nextracker, we have a great opportunity to scale this innovation faster with their global supply chain ecosystem and deep customer relationships and to commercialize a solution that makes a real impact.”
— Gregg Patterson, CEO, Origami Solar
Roll-Formed Steel vs. Extruded Aluminum Frames
Conventional solar panel frames are made by extruding aluminum through a die, a process optimized for the aluminum alloys used in earlier, smaller panel designs. Roll forming bends flat steel coil into structural shapes, enabling a different geometry that can be tailored to the load characteristics of modern large-format panels. Roll-formed steel frames can mirror the external dimensions of aluminum frames, allowing panel manufacturers to switch materials without redesigning their products or assembly lines.
About Origami Solar
Origami Solar was founded in Bend, Oregon with the specific mission of commercializing steel as a replacement for aluminum in solar panel frames. The company spent its early years resolving key technical challenges: ensuring that steel frames could match the precision tolerances required for solar panel manufacturing, demonstrating structural performance under the wind loading conditions imposed by modern tracking applications, and establishing high-volume fabrication processes that could compete on cost with imported aluminum frames.
By the time of the acquisition, Origami Solar had established U.S. fabrication capacity through partnerships with manufacturers in Ohio and Texas, with the production process starting from steel coil and ending with finished frames ready for integration into panel manufacturing. This domestic footprint distinguishes Origami’s supply chain from that of the Chinese aluminum frame manufacturers who supply the majority of the global solar panel market.
Nextracker describes itself as the world’s most deployed solar tracker company. The company was spun out of Flex Ltd. and went public in February 2023 in one of the year’s largest clean energy IPOs. Its NX Horizon single-axis tracker system is deployed across projects in more than 30 countries. With the Origami acquisition, Nextracker extends its product scope from below-ground foundations through above-ground tracker systems and now into the panel frame itself.