SolarWorld to add module assembly in Hillsboro
Hillsboro, ORE., Oct. 4, 2009 – SolarWorld's manufacturing operation here will become the first fully integrated monocrystalline photovoltaic plant in the Americas – starting with polysilicon rock and ending with finished Sunmodules – when the plant adds module assembly in mid-2009, the company announced today.
The factory addition to crystal growing, wafer making and cell production already occurring at the Hillsboro site will round out SolarWorld's commitment to Oregon manufacturing and the U.S. market. A new, 210,000-square-foot building nearing completion next to SolarWorld's 480,000-square-foot main U.S. factory will house 350 megawatts of annual module-manufacturing capacity. Combined with 150 MW in Camarillo, Calif., the company's capacity will total 500 MW in the United States and 1.15 gigawatts worldwide by 2011. Module assembly will occupy half of the new building, logistics the other half. Construction of the new building, which employed up to 180 construction workers, has added 44 percent more space to the site just a year after it opened on Oct. 17, 2008. The addition of module assembly is coming sooner and in greater capacity than the company initially planned.
"While we always intended to add moduling in Hillsboro as part of our long-term expansion goal, today marks the launch of actual steps to equip, staff and operate a new building for that purpose," said Boris Klebensberger, president of SolarWorld Industries America. "These steps reflect our unwavering determination to use Oregon's skilled, silicon-savvy work force – in concert with our veteran employees in Camarillo – to manufacture the world's best PV power technology right here on U.S. soil." SolarWorld, the largest and most experienced U.S. manufacturer of solar power technology, has begun assembling a management team and work force for the new factory, which will not alter company's previous – commitment to employ 1,000 workers by 2011.
SolarWorld officials announced the milestone in their ongoing U.S. expansion during a first-anniversary celebration inside the new building. The event coincided with a SolarWorld-sponsored bicycle tour to benefit Portland nonprofit Green Empowerment, which undertakes energy and water projects in developing nations.
Also in the event, Solar2World, SolarWorld's rural-electrification program, launched a project with Green Empowerment to benefit El Corozo, Nicaragua. Solar2World will donate PV modules for a solar water-pumping station that will be implemented by Green Empowerment to supply drinking water to 114 residents.
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