SolarWorld to expand largest solar manufacturing site in North America
HILLSBORO, Ore. - March 19, 2009 - Five months after the grand opening of North America's biggest solar manufacturing plant here in October, the SolarWorld group today announced it will begin construction of a new, adjacent facility.
The building, dedicated to logistics, distribution and production, will measure about 210,000 square feet, increasing the site’s plant space by 44 percent. By comparison, SolarWorld's main building -- formerly a semiconductor factory built but never put into full production in the late 1990s -- measures about 480,000 square feet.
The new construction demonstrates that despite a world economic downturn, the SolarWorld group is forging ahead with aggressive plans to build U.S. manufacturing capacity in step with the long-term deployment of solar technology.
"We are fully committed to not only marketing the proven renewable energy of photovoltaic technology in the United States but also manufacturing it here," said Boris Klebensberger, SolarWorld's chief operating officer and President of SolarWorld Industries America. "This project further demonstrates our resolve."
The new Logistics and Production Building leaves unchanged the company's goal of building 500 MW of production capacity and about 1,000 employees by 2011. The project will employ between 150 and 200 construction workers at peak.
Completion is scheduled for November.
The project represents the second phase of the site's buildout. With the new facility, the company will be able to realign production operations to make more efficient space of the main building’s full capacity.
SolarWorld's 100-acre property near the corner of Northwest Evergreen and Shute roads provides still further room to grow, an opportunity that the company intends to seize as market and company conditions direct.
Gordon Brinser, vice president for operations for SolarWorld Industries America, congratulated the city of Hillsboro and state of Oregon on their ongoing steps to collaboratively grow safe, environmentally sound, well-paying industrial employment.
"Hillsboro and Oregon have been key partners so far in resolving the inevitable obstacles that arise for an enterprise of this magnitude," Brinser said. "We hope they will continue to adapt to the challenges of establishing new, green industry."
The logistics building has been designed, and will be constructed and operated, according to SolarWorld's highest standards of sustainable business practices.
SolarWorld is the largest, and one of the oldest, U.S. manufacturers of photovoltaic cells and modules. It also operates U.S. sites in Vancouver, Wash., and Camarillo, Calif. Worldwide, the company, based in Bonn, Germany, runs production plants in Germany and South Korea. All, in turn, supply SolarWorld sales offices in the United States, Germany, Spain, South Africa and Singapore.
About SolarWorld (www.solarworld-usa.com)
SolarWorld (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 of all sizes, 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. 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 developing countries, exemplifying sustainable economic development. Worldwide, SolarWorld employs more than 3,300 people. SolarWorld AG has been quoted on the stock exchange since 1999 and today is listed on, among others, the TecDAX and ÖkoDAX as well as in the sustainability index NAI.
Media Contact:
Devon Cichoski
Media relations manager
SolarWorld Americas
4650 Adohr Lane
Camarillo, CA 93012
Mobile: 805-388-6388
Office: 805-377-2905
devon.cichoski(at)solarworld-usa.com