http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2009/...roduction_s.html
SolarWorld to add production step in Hillsboro
By Amy Hsuan, The Oregonian
October 04, 2009, 9:35AM
SolarWorld, the German photovoltaic giant, is expanding its solar manufacturing foothold in Oregon sooner than expected, with a second facility nearing completion on its Hillsboro campus.
On Sunday, the company announced its new 210,000 square-foot facility, to be done in November, will house module assembly lines, the last step in the production of finished solar panels.
The expansion, which comes just a year after the company's launch in Hillsboro, will make SolarWorld the only company to sell solar panels made entirely in Oregon, starting from the first step of growing crystals out of silicon.
The company's 480,000 square foot main factory, the nation's largest solar plant, has been performing the first three steps of solar panel production since its opening last October. The company currently also has a moduling facility in Camarillo, Calif.
"These steps reflect our unwavering determination to use Oregon's skilled, silicon-savvy workforce– in concert with our veteran employees in Camarillo– to manufacture the world's best PV power technology right here on U.S. soil," said Boris Klebensberger, president of SolarWorld Industries America.
The announcement comes at a time of turbulence for the solar industry, which has seen a glut of Asian manufacturers, blamed for the world's oversupply of solar panels, which have fallen in price over the past year by as much as 50 percent.
In particular, Chinese solar manufacturers, with cheap labor and overhead costs, have posed fierce competition in pricing. For example, Centron Solar, a newcomer in Eugene, is aimed at gaining market share by selling below the cost of their competitiors. Centron's solar panels are entirely made in China.
While the Chinese manufacturers claim that their drive to lower prices will allow more consumers to afford solar power, their tactics pose a test for European and American companies trying to compete.
SolarWorld and other companies are trying to differentiate their products with consumers, emphasizing American-made or more advanced technologies.
Sanyo, which also recently completed building a factory in Salem, touts a hybrid technology that makes its solar panels more efficient in cloudy weather or extreme heat.
The Salem factory houses the first two steps of solar manufacturing– growing crystals and slicing them into wafers. From there, the wafers go to Japan to be turned into cells and then to Mexico to become finished panels.
"We're the only company that has this hybrid technology," said Robert Zerner, California-based business development executive for the solar division of Sanyo Energy Corp. "We have a higher cost overall because of the technology. But the performance benefit outweighs the cost."
In Hillsboro, SolarWorld's new facility will help reduce costs with a greater economy of scale. By 2011, the company hopes to have 350 megwatts of capacity, a measure of a solar factory's output, and 1000 employees.
"The bottom line is that its sooner and more than we planned," said company spokesman Ben Santarris. "We're moving faster and doing more. We'll be fully-integrated in Oregon." |
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