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Last Updated: May 17th, 2007 - 10:00:42 |
SolarWorld Plans Largest American Solar Facility
By greenbiz.com
Mar 2, 2007
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HILLSBORO, Ore., March 2, 2007
-- The German solar-power technology group SolarWorld AG has announced
plans to build an integrated solar silicon wafer and solar cell
production here, which will produce a capacity of 500 megawatts by
2009, making it the largest solar factory in North America.
SolarWorld AG acquired the silicon wafer production from the
Japanese Komatsu Group at a price of $40 million. Komatsu had invested
some $500 million (600 million EUR) at the Hillsboro location - near
Intel's giant chip manufacturing plan -- but Komatsu had never put the
facility into production because of weak demand in the chip industry.
SolarWorld plans to put the facility into production by combining
high-demand solar cell production with silicon wafer manufacturing, and
the company plans to further develop the new site with an investment of
about $400 million. Oregon will support these investments with property
and business energy tax credits.
"This is a major step forward -- not only for our environment, but
also Oregon's economy," said Oregon's governor Ted Kulongoski.
"SolarWorld AG will become a major partner in our state's move towards
energy independence. I appreciate their commitment and dedication to
achieving a clean energy future."
Following this acquisition the SolarWorld Group will shift its
solar crystallization activities from Vancouver, WA, to Hillsboro and
begin production in the summer of 2007. In the first stage of the
expansion, the company will enhance the site's capacities to 100 MW. At
the same time, the group will double the capacities of its specialized
solar module factory in Camarillo, Calif., to 100 MW.
"The new investment in Oregon constitutes an exceptional
opportunity," explains Frank H. Asbeck, CEO of SolarWorld AG. "The
takeover of such a high-tech production facility at a price of only $40
million is an excellent deal."
With the new U.S. production capacities, the SolarWorld Group is
substantially expanding its position in the strongly growing U.S. solar
market. Including SolarWorld's planned expansion of its silicon wafer
production facility in Freiberg/Saxony, Germany, to 500 MW, the group
will reach a total global production in excess of one gigawatt.
Source: http://greenbiz.com/news/news_third.cfm?NewsID=34671
© Copyright 2007 by CivilizedNation.com
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