Solaicx to Locate 48MW Manufacturing Plant in Portland, Oregon
Solaicx is the second solar company to locate in the state this year
Portland, Ore. June 12, 2007
Source: Solaicx News reports/Oregon Economic Development Association
http://www.solaicx.com/pages/news.htm
Solaicx, a leading manufacturer of mono-crystalline silicon ingots and wafers used in the solar energy industry, announced today that it will be locating its first high-volume manufacturing facility in Portland. For the past five years the company has developed manufacturing technologies that produce low-cost, high-efficiency silicon wafers for the photovoltaic (PV) industry that have been produced at the company’s pilot manufacturing facility in Santa Clara, Calif.
“I am pleased that Solaicx will be locating its new facility in Oregon, creating good paying jobs and adding to our first-rate-high-tech cluster,” said Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski. “Solaicx’s announcement confirms that Oregon, with our commitment to sustainability, skilled workforce and prime location, is on track to become the national leader in renewable energy.”
Solaicx is the second solar energy company in the past six months to announce the location of a major manufacturing facility in Oregon. In March of this year, Germany-based SolarWorld Group selected Hillsboro, Ore., for its newest plant, which when fully operational will be the nation’s largest solar production facility. Both companies selected Oregon because of the availability of highly skilled technology workers and the state’s commitment to clean technology and renewable energy companies.
“We looked at the state of Oregon’s generous financial incentives for renewable energy and Portland’s deep base of skilled labor in silicon manufacturing, and decided that the port is an ideal place for our continued growth as a company,” said Jeff Jones, Vice President of
Manufacturing for Solaicx.”This welcoming atmosphere will allow us to meet our goals and rapidly ramp-up to full production by the end of 2008.”
The new 136,000-square-foot manufacturing plant will be located in the Portland Rivergate Industrial District located just minutes from the Port of Portland’s deep-water container terminal and from Interstate 5, the West Coast’s main north-south transportation route. Solaicx officials estimate that the initial investment in the new ingot and wafer manufacturing plant will be $52 million and that it will create roughly 100 new jobs by the end of 2007. Additionally, 12 ingot growers will be online by the end of the year with an additional 24 growers installed by the end of 2008. The company will announce a formal plant opening and ribbon-cutting event later this summer.
Because the Portland metropolitan area is home to Intel’s largest chip manufacturing facility in the world as well as a large cluster of other high-tech companies, the city attracts the necessary talent pool for the solar energy industry. Additionally, the Business Energy Tax Credit program, which is administered by the state’s Department of Energy, offers tax credits to companies that invest in energy conservation, recycling, renewable energy resources.