SolarWorld eyes North America with large new factory

German solar manufacturer SolarWorld is planning to bring a large facility in Hillsboro, Oregon online as the biggest solar plant in North America.

SolarWorld plans to establish silicon wafer and cell production at the site, reaching a capacity of 500 MW by 2009.

If completed as planned [ed.: and nobody beats it to the punch] it would be the largest silicon photovolatic plant in America, the company said.

Japan's Komatsu Group originally invested some $500 million in the facility, located near Intel's main factory in the U.S., outfitting it as a silicon chip plant. The factory never entered production due to weak demand in the chip industry. SolarWorld bought the never-used facility at a steal for only $40 million.

Pictures of the squeaky clean plant >>

"The take-over of such a high-tech production facility at a price of only $40 million is an excellent deal," said Frank H. Asbeck, Chairman and CEO of SolarWorld.

SolarWorld says it plans to invest a further $400 million in the site. The state of Oregon is extending property and business energy tax credits.

SolarWorld plans to move its solar crystallization activities from Vancouver, Washington to Hillsboro, and start up production in the summer of 2007. In the first stage of the expansion, capacities will be enhanced to 100 MW. At the same time, it plans to double the capacity of its specialized solar module factory at its Camarillo, CA site to 100 MW.

The company currently employs about 500 people in the U.S. Spokesperson Anne Schneider told the Cleantech Group the company will likely be hiring another few hundred, depending on the technology that gets selected for the new facility.

"We're now looking for highly skilled engineers. That's one of the reasons we went to Oregon. They already have this kind of staff in the area." 

The new plant will produce highly efficient mono-crystalline solar cells. SolarWorld's other products are based mostly on multi-crystalline silicon.

"In this process the technological know-how from the mono-crystalline technology taken over from the former Shell companies will be employed for the first time," said Boris Klebensberger, responsible for SolarWorld's U.S. activities.

SolarWorld subsumed Shell's solar business just over a year ago.

SolarWorld's total production is to exceed the Gigawatt mark globally by 2010, officials forecast.

The SolarWorld Group does business at all stages of the solar value chain, from raw silicon to turn-key solar power plants. The company operates production facilities in Germany, Sweden and the U.S. Among its most important sales markets are Germany, the United States and the rest of Europe, especially Spain.