Module production expanded to 100 MW for booming US market
SolarWorld AG consistently strengthens its business with solar modules and complete systems. At the Intersolar North America taking place in San Francisco from 15 to 17 July 2008 the company announced the completion of its new fully automatic production line for mono-crystalline solar modules in Camarillo with an output capacity of 100 MW. "With this we will meet the booming demand for high-quality solar systems in the USA", explained Dipl.-Ing. Frank H. Asbeck, Chairman and CEO of SolarWorld AG, when he visited the exhibition. "Especially in California the solar market is growing rapidly. Solar power from the roof will be cheaper than conventional peak-load power in a few years time". The Intersolar North America is part of the leading US semiconductor fair Semicon West and is the largest US solar show next to the "Solarpower" exhibition.
SolarWorld No.1 to start in the North American Solar Challenge
Just a few days before the beginning of the exhibition the solar racing car SolarWorld No.1 entered the biggest North American race of solar motor sports, the North American Solar Challenge, in Dallas. The team from the University of Bochum which developed the solar racer in cooperation with the main sponsor, SolarWorld AG, has been on the race track since Sunday bearing the Number 1. The route will take the race cars 4,000 kilometers across the North American continent from Texas to Calgary in Canada. It is expected that the contestants will cross the finishing line on 22 July 2008. The solar racing cars of the 24 teams who mainly come from US universities are exclusively powered by the energy of the sun. “Now that the team has again optimized the technology I am confident that the SolarWorld No.1 racer will improve upon the fourth place it achieved in its last race in Australia”, said SolarWorld chief Frank Asbeck. In the World Solar Challenge covering 3,000 kilometers across the Australian continent in the fall of 2007 SolarWorld No.1 had won the prize for the best design. The aerodynamic racing car weighs 200 kilograms, is propelled by highly efficient solar cells with a surface of six square meters and reaches a top speed of 120 km/h. SolarWorld AG’s sponsorship for solar motor racing is designed to make the public aware of the potentials of modern solar power technology and at the same time to promote the development of young engineers and to alert them to the future tasks of climate-friendly energy generation.
Race news: www.americansolarchallenge.org
About the SolarWorld group
The SolarWorld group (ISIN: DE0005108401) is a worldwide leader in offering brand-name, high-quality, crystalline solar-power technology. Its strength is its fully integrated solar production. From silicon as the raw material through wafers, cells and modules all the way to turn-key solar systems, including recycling, the group combines all stages of the solar value chain. The central business activity is selling quality modules into the installation and distribution trades and crystalline wafers to the international solar cell industry. Group headquarters are located in Bonn, Germany. Production sites are to be found in Germany, the United States and South Korea. The group’s largest production facilities operate in Freiberg, Germany and Hillsboro in the U.S. state of Oregon. Sustainability is the basis of the group strategy. Under the name Solar2World, the group supports care projects using off-grid solar-power solutions in emerging economies and developing countries, exemplifying sustainable economic development. Worldwide, SolarWorld employs more than 2,700 people. SolarWorld AG has been quoted on the stock exchange since 1999 and today is listed on, among others, the TecDAX, ÖkoDAX, Dow Jones STOXX 600 as well as in the sustainability indices DAXglobal Alternative Energy and NAI.
www.solarworld-usa.com
Media Contact:
Ben Santarris
Public affairs manager
SolarWorld
25300 N.W. Evergreen Road
Hillsboro, OR 97124
Mobile: 503 927 9858
Office: 503 693 5189
ben.santarris(at)solarworld-usa.com