SolarWorld to turn Washington factory into a major producer of Solar Cells and wafers
Kulongoski hails plans for Hillsboro solar-cell factory
By Associated Press /Mar 03, 2007
Source: The Daily News TDN, Longview, Washington
http://www.tdn.com/articles/2007/03/03/biz/news02.txt
SALEM — A German company’s plan to turn a Hillsboro factory into a major producer of solar cells and wafers is a big boost not just for Hillsboro but also for the state’s economy and for its commitment to clean energy, Gov. Ted Kulongoski said Thursday. Germany’s SolarWorld AG announced it will invest $397 million in a newly acquired factory in Hillsboro, and up to 1,000 jobs could be created.
Hillsboro is already well-known for the sprawling Intel chip-making facilities.
SolarWorld, which is based in the Rhine River city of Bonn, said its Hillsboro factory will become the largest solar-wafer and cell factory in the U.S., and it should come online by the end of this year.
By the end of 2009, the plant will be able to produce solar silicon wafers and solar cells capable of generating 500 megawatts of electricity per year, SolarWorld CEO Frank Asbeck told The Associated Press in Germany. That’s enough to power 100,000 homes per year.
“This is a major step forward not only for our environment, but also Oregon’s economy,” Kulongoski said. “SolarWorld AG will become a major partner in our state’s move toward energy independence. I appreciate their commitment and dedication to achieving a clean energy future.”
SolarWorld will move current production facilities from nearby Vancouver, Wash. to Hillsboro. It acquired the Hillsboro factory on Wednesday for $40 million from Japan’s Komatsu-Group, which had invested $500 million in it to produce silicon computer chips, but abandoned the project before going into production when chip prices fell. The Vancouver plant, which makes silicon ingots to be used to build solar wafers, will be closed, but all 100 employees will be offered jobs at the new facility, Asbeck said.
SolarWorld said the Hillsboro plant may employ up to 1,000 people over the next few years. It currently employs 1,350 people worldwide. SolarWorld said it will invest $397 million to convert it to produce silicon wafers and cells for solar panels. It also said “Oregon will support these investments with property and business energy tax credits.”
The announcement came the same day that the Oregon House of Representatives passed a comprehensive package of energy legislation aimed at expanding the clean energy industry in the state. If the bills pass in the Senate, as expected, the maximum business tax credit that companies can receive for investing in renewable energy manufacturing facilities would increase from $10 million to $20 million.
SolarWorld, founded in 1998, has grown rapidly with government subsidies for companies and households tapping renewable energy sources. Tom Hughes, the mayor of Hillsboro, said he thinks the job influx into Hillsboro may be the biggest since some of the Intel announcements in the mid 1990s.
“It is a new venture in what we think of as our niche in the alternative energy game,” he said. “It plants the flag for that particular industry in our community around which we expect other companies to begin to circulate,” he said, referring to suppliers and other support industries that likely will follow. Hughes said the Komatsu Group plant “was perhaps the most expensive front office on the planet,” with only about 16 sales and service staff.