HILLSBORO, Ore., Nov. 20, 2009 – SolarWorld recently celebrated a quarter-century of successful solar power technology distribution in Latin America and honored a Chilean solar-industry veteran for his 25 years of partnership with the company in that regional market.

At the company’s recent Latin American distributor conference, Raju Yenamandra, U.S. head of sales for SolarWorld, extolled the visionary work of Christof Horn, founder of Chile-based photovoltaic distributor and integrator Heliplast. Christof has installed PV systems for remote homes and communication sites throughout Chile, even on mountain peaks miles from the nearest conveniences.

“Senor Horn is one of the earliest adopters of PV technology and one of the most committed people I’ve met to bringing renewable electricity to the most remote places in the world,” Yenamandra said.

SolarWorld, the largest U.S. photovoltaic manufacturer in the United States, has been active in the Latin American market since not long after the company’s inception in the 1970s.

Long-term relationships and commitment to poverty reduction through solar electrification were common threads running through the conference of distributors, many of whom have worked with SolarWorld and predecessor owners of the company’s West Coast plants more than 15 years. One distributor, Vincente Lopez of CIME Comercial S.A. in Peru, was applauded for installing more than 16,000 PV systems at remote communication centers throughout South America during that period.

The distributors, representing Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Haiti, Mexico, Peru and Puerto Rico, toured SolarWorld’s factory in Camarillo, Calif., and discussed future products and strategies in their respective markets.