Soitec purchases manufacturing facility in San Diego to locally produce CPV modules
This major project for Soitec represents an investment of more than $150-million and will create 450 on-site jobs ─ including employees for the joint venture ─ in the City of San Diego and more than 1,000 indirect jobs at full capacity (200 MW).
Soitec’s investment includes the acquisition of a 176,000-square-foot manufacturing center on 14.8 acres of land located within the campus of Sony Electronics’ U.S. headquarters. Soitec will begin extensive upgrade of the facilities in early 2012 and plans to have its first phase (100 MW) production line operational by the fourth quarter of 2012. M+W U.S., Inc, a subsidiary of the M+W Group, a leading global engineering and construction partner for technology-based clients and renowned in constructing solar cell manufacturing facilities, has been selected as general contractor for the facility construction work.
Situated inside the San Diego factory will be the joint venture Reflexite Soitec Optical Technology LLC, previously announced last month. This new company will operate its own 100-person manufacturing operation within the facility developing and manufacturing leading-edge silicone-on-glass (SOG) Fresnel lens plates used in Soitec’s CPV modules.
“Having already announced our solar projects contracted with San Diego Gas & Electric, it makes perfect sense for us to launch our U.S. manufacturing operations here,” said André Jacques Auberton-Hervé, chairman and CEO of Soitec. “With strong support from the mayor and the City of San Diego, we look forward to taking part in the local economy amid the area’s large pool of trained and educated high-tech employees, the vibrant business community and the strong cluster of renewable-energy companies. We want to help California meet its Renewable Portfolio Standard, which calls for a third of the state’s utility-scale energy production to be generated by renewable sources by 2020.”
Soitec’s highly efficient, durable CPV systems have enabled the company to plan for more than 300 MW in solar power plant projects throughout the Southwest U.S. including 155 MW in power purchase agreements with San Diego Gas & Electric, approved by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) last month. Additionally, a power purchase agreement for up to 150 MW for the Imperial Solar Energy Center West project, another project that currently proposes to use Soitec’s CPV technology, was also approved by the CPUC on December 15. Tenaska Solar Ventures, LLC, an affiliate of independent energy company Tenaska, is developing that project.
Visit Soitec at www.soitec.com
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