Sanyo Announces New PV Manufacturing Plant in US

SANYO North America Corporation, a subsidiary of the Tokyo-based SANYO Electric Co., announced plans on Monday to construct a new solar component plant in Salem, Oregon. The facility, set to open in October 2009, will produce silicon ingots and wafers, the major component in conventional solar cells, and will create over 200 new green jobs. Slated to cost $80 million in development and construction, the plant will more than triple the company’s overall US photovoltaic production from 30 MW to 100 MW once fully operational by April 2010; for comparison, the cumulative US output for PV production in 2007 was 201 MW, 31% greater than in 2006. As high demand for solar panels is currently outstripping supply, this greater production capacity should help to lower retail costs across the global market.

The announcement is yet more evidence that Oregon’s incentive programs for renewable business seem to be working. Thanks to the state’s Business Energy Tax Credit (BETC), which provides tax breaks of up to 50% on capital investments of up to $20 million for renewable energy projects, solar manufacturers are moving there in relative droves. SANYO joins three other companies that shifted their operations to Oregon last year alone - German-based SolarWorld, and Solaicx and Peak Sun Silicon, both of California. All in all, a study released this past spring by ECONorthwest projects that the two energy tax credit programs combined (the Residential Energy Tax Credit program being the other) would “create nearly 2,100 new jobs, boost economic output by $178 million and cut energy costs by $60 million” over the next fifteen years.

The factory will join SANYO’s Carson, CA manufacturing plant and expansion at other production facilities in Japan, Hungary and Mexico to boost the company’s expected PV output to 340 MW globally by the end of 2008 and 600 MW by 2010. Among its other solar ventures, in 1997 SANYO introduced its highly efficient HIT (Heterojunction with Intrinsic Thin layer) solar cells, which combine single crystalline cells with amorphous silicon to achieve an impressive 20% conversion efficiency rating. Also check out SANYO’s Solar Ark in Japan, the world’s largest solar-generating structure and a state-of-the-art science center.

Sources: press release (us.sanyo.com); Oregon Department of Energy; “Oregon Welcomes Yet Another Solar Maker, Sanyo”, earth2Tech;“Economic Impacts of Oregon Energy Tax Credit Programs in 2006″, ECONorthwest; “SB 819 Passes Out of House Committee by unanimous vote”, Pacific Northwest Energy and Sustainability Venture blog;“Sanyo to Build Solar Cell Plant in Oregon”, GoodCleanTech; “Sanyo chooses Oregon site for new solar PV ingot, wafer factory”, Photovoltaics International; “Solar Manufacturing Takes Flight in the United States”, US Department of Energy, EERE News; “Big Photovoltaic Price Drop Due to Large Silicon Supplies?”, FuturePundit; “PV Status Report 2007″, EU Joint Research Centre, Institute for Environment and Sustainability; “Japan’s Sanyo to Build New US Plant”, AFP wire report.


Posted on Tuesday, September 30th, 2008 at 9:00 am | Tagged in Energy, Energy Efficiency, Green Building, Green Collar Jobs, Photovoltaics, Renewables, Sustainability | posted by Bill

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