Oregon has seen some exciting solar energy policies lately, like increasing its net metering laws to 2 megawatts (MW), proposed legislation for a renewable energy standard that includes provisions for community solar power, and a bill increasing the incentives for residential solar hot water and solar electric systems.

Now you can add “North America’s largest solar factory” to the state’s sunny solar outlook.

The German tech company SolarWorld AG is building a facility that will produce integrated solar silicon wafers (the primary component for the production of solar panels) and solar cells (the part that converts sunlight into electricity) in Hillsboro, OR.

SolarWorld will invest about $400 million to expand and develop the new facility over the next 2 years, which it acquired from the Japanese Komatsu Group. That company had already invested around $500 million in the facility but it never went into production because of weak demand in the chip industry. Oregon will support the investments by offering property and business energy tax credits.

A spokesman for the Oregon Department of Energy said the state is “absolutely committed to the long-term development of this [solar] industry.” Jon Miller, executive director of the Oregon Solar industry, noted that Oregon’s business-friendly climate for renewable energy industries made this significant development happen:

"This will provide Oregon with a very big economic boost and it highlights a vigorous effort by Oregon to attract businesses from the renewable energy industry. It's great news…to get another big renewable energy win for the Northwest."

SolarWorld currently has production facilities in nearby Vancouver, WA that employs about 100 people, all of whom will be offered jobs at the Hillsboro plant. The company employs 1,350 workers worldwide and expects the Hillsboro facility to employ up to another 1,000 people. The addition of this plant represents a significant expansion of their share of the U.S. solar energy market.

Photo courtesy of SolarWorld AG

Renewable Energy Access
The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR)