Portland, Oregon Gets More Solar Power
Photo Courtesy of Solaicx
Solaicx, a manufacturing company that produces high-efficiency silicon wafers for photovoltaic solar power, has announced a new facility planned for Portland, Oregon.
The 136,000-square-foot plant will produce silicon ingots, which are logs of pure silicon that get heated to high temperatures and sliced like lunch meat to make silicon wafers. The wafers are the semiconductor materials in solar panels. The process for producing and processing silicon wafers for solar power is difficult and expensive, but Solaicx claims it uses silicon more efficiently and thus creates a more cost-competitive product.
The plant will provide about 100 new green collar jobs and, by the time it reaches full capacity in 18 months, may produce enough material for 142 megawatts of solar panels.
Why Portland? The Oregon Department of Energy created a Solar Energy Working Group charged with developing and implementing a strategic plan to lure clean tech companies to Portland. Jeff Jones, Vice President of Manufacturing for Solaicx, said the state’s incentives were key in the company’s decision to locate there:
"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. This welcoming atmosphere will allow us to meet our goals and rapidly ramp-up to full production by the end of 2008."
Although many manufacturing facilities are located in or are moving to China, precision manufacturing is expanding in the U.S., Japan, and Europe.
