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PRESS RELEASE: Solaicx to Locate Manufacturing
Plant in Portland, Oregon: Company is the second
solar company to locate in the state this year
Date: June 12, 2007
Source: Oregon Economic Development Association
PORTLAND, Ore. - Solaicx, a leading manufacturer of
mono-crystalline silicon ingots and wafers used in the
solar energy industry, announced today that it will
be locating its first high-volume manufacturing facility
in Portland. For the past five years the company has
developed manufacturing technologies that produce low-cost,
high-efficiency silicon wafers for the photovoltaic
(PV) industry that have been produced at the company’s
pilot manufacturing facility in Santa Clara, Calif.
“I am pleased that Solaicx will be locating its
new facility in Oregon, creating good paying jobs and
adding to our first-rate-high-tech cluster,” said
Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski. “Solaicx’s
announcement confirms that Oregon, with our commitment
to sustainability, skilled workforce and prime location,
is on track to become the national leader in renewable
energy.”
Solaicx is the second solar energy company in the past
six months to announce the location of a major manufacturing
facility in Oregon. In March of this year, Germany-based
SolarWorld Group selected Hillsboro, Ore., for its newest
plant, which when fully operational will be the nation’s
largest solar production facility. Both companies selected
Oregon because of the availability of highly skilled
technology workers and the state’s commitment
to clean technology and renewable energy companies.
“We looked at the state of Oregon's generous financial
incentives for renewable energy and Portland's deep
base of skilled labor in silicon manufacturing, and
decided that the port is an ideal place for our continued
growth as a company,” said Jeff Jones, Vice President
of
Manufacturing for Solaicx."This welcoming atmosphere
will allow us to meet our goals and rapidly ramp-up
to full production by the end of 2008."
The new 136,000-square-foot manufacturing plant will
be located in the Portland Rivergate Industrial District
located just minutes from the Port of Portland’s
deep-water container terminal and from Interstate 5,
the West Coast’s main north-south transportation
route. Solaicx officials estimate that the initial investment
in the new ingot and wafer manufacturing plant will
be $52 million and that it will create roughly 100 new
jobs by the end of 2007. Additionally, 12 ingot growers
will be online by the end of the year with an additional
24 growers installed by the end of 2008. The company
will announce a formal plant opening and ribbon-cutting
event later this summer.
Because the Portland metropolitan area is home to Intel’s
largest chip manufacturing facility in the world as
well as a large cluster of other high-tech companies,
the city attracts the necessary talent pool for the
solar energy industry. Additionally, the Business Energy
Tax Credit program, which is administered by the state’s
Department of Energy, offers tax credits to companies
that invest in energy conservation, recycling, renewable
energy resources.
For more information:
Krista Hildebrand
Phone: 503.467.4686
khildebrand@frause.com
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