Solar Industry in Oregon

[Snowden352]

The sun is starting to shine on Oregon's solar industry
Solaicx opening could signal a state solar revolution
Portland Business Journal - by Matthew Kish Business Journal staff writer
Cathy Cheney | Portland Business Journal
Solaicx CEO Bob Ford, left, with Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski at a ceremony earlier this week, said his company decided to build a solar manufacturing facility in the state because of some “very desirable aspects.”
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Four days after Solaicx opened the doors on a solar manufacturing facility, insiders say more solar manufacturers could soon call Oregon home.

"Oregon is going to be one of, if not the, key manufacturing location in the United States for solar," said Bob Ford, CEO of Santa Clara, Calif.-based Solaicx.

Both Ford and Jon Miller, executive director of the Oregon Solar Energy Industries Association, said several manufacturers continue looking for locations here.

Those include Aliso Viejo, Calif.-based XsunX Inc., a pre-revenue public company that designs solar cells and manufacturing systems.

"We're trying to complete a lease right now," said XsunX CEO Tom Djokovich. "We want to get the building ready and move [to Portland] by mid-next year."

The company wants to find a 50,000-square-foot manufacturing plant with room to expand by another 150,000 square feet.

It's looking within a 30-minute radius of the airport and has a $21 million financing package for the project, Djokovich said.

It's already been a big year for the state's solar industry. The German company Solarworld AG announced in March it will spend nearly $400 million to build what could be the nation's largest solar manufacturing facility in Hillsboro.

Solaicx, which makes the ingots and wafers used to make solar panels, has hired 40 local employees at the new Portland plant. It expects to hire 20 more in the next two months. The Portland plant could eventually employ 200.

"We're probably the top solar energy manufacturing cluster in the country," said Miller, whose organization had 60 members last year, but grew to 90 this year.

Oregon is already fifth nationally in installations, with about 400 of the nation's 8,500 annual solar panel installations.

Several factors contribute to Oregon getting a big chunk of the $1 billion U.S. solar industry. Solaicx chose Portland three years ago over Austin, Texas, and Phoenix, Ariz.

The state's skilled work force was the biggest factor.

"Portland had the best overall conditions," Ford said. "Easily the most important part of sighting in Portland was around skill sets [of workers]."

Solar manufacturing requires highly trained workers, which are in ample supply in Oregon thanks to the state's robust semiconductor industry.

Secondly, the state's abundant hydropower means cheap, reliable electricity, a must for high-energy consuming operations like solar manufacturing.

"Access to reliable power was the second key hurdle," Ford said. "Hydropower made a lot of sense."

The low cost of business in Oregon, relative to California, also made Oregon attractive, Ford said.

Increased tax credits for solar manufacturers were a bonus.

This year, the Legislature increased tax credits for renewable energy manufacturers to 50 percent of the construction cost of a new facility. The credit is capped at $10 million and can be taken over five years.

"Solaicx is tapping into some very desirable aspects," Ford said. "I would expect some other solar companies will come into the state."

Solaicx is still pre-revenue, but could start selling products to some of the world's largest solar equipment makers in the next few weeks.

The company was funded with $45 million in venture capital.

mkish@bizjournals.com | 503-219-3414

[Pavlov's Dog]

Washington state is surprisingly one of the World market leaders in the materials for solar cell manufacturing. REC is currently building a $600 million expansion of their Solar Grade Silicon plant! This is a doubling of capacity of what is already the largest such production plant in the World. I believe the proximity to this plant can only help Oregon's competitiveness in the Solar Power industry.

[pdxman]

I find it kind of ironic that the solar power industry is taking such an interest in the pnw--one of the gloomiest places weather-wise in the country. Oh well! I'll take the jobs!

[Pavlov's Dog]

The PNW climate, especially on the East side of the mountains, has abundant sunshine. All of Germany, which is Europes solar power leader, is further north than all of Oregon. Germany also has a lot of gray skies.

[Drew-Ski]

Here is another artical from the DJC on this subject.......interesting they chose Millerburg. I am happy to see the Valley getting in on the action.



California solar company to build Oregon plant
POSTED: 06:00 AM PST Tuesday, November 27, 2007
BY DJC STAFF

A California solar company will invest more than $700 million over five years in a new silicon manufacturing plant in Millersburg.

Peak Sun Silicon last week announced plans to begin construction with an initial investment of $18 million, to be completed in the fall of 2008, according to the Oregon Economic and Community Development Department. Phase two will invest an additional $700 million, with work to be completed by 2011.

Peak Sun is the second major solar silicon producer this year to bring its business to Oregon.

Germany-based Solar World AG in March bought the vacant Komatsu Silicon America semiconductor plant in Hillsboro for $40 million and plans to undertake a $400 million expansion there.

[Snowden352]

European solar company considers Gresham plant
Posted by aereline December 09, 2008 21:38PM
Dark economic clouds shadowing businesses worldwide aren't discouraging solar companies from considering manufacturing in Oregon.

A large European solar company has picked Gresham as its top U.S. candidate while seeking a site for multiple factories that could employ more than 2,000, public officials confirm. The company -- which officials decline to name, citing confidentiality agreements -- is weighing LSI Corp. property in Gresham against sites in Singapore and another country.

Other solar companies continue to "kick tires" in Hillsboro, where Germany's SolarWorld recently opened its $440 million factory, says Larry Pederson, the city's economic development manager.

"If there's one bright spot in the work we do, it's alternative energy, including solar," Pederson says. "We're going to keep pushing on that sector."

Oregon, which recently attracted Sanyo Solar to build a Salem factory, stands out for relatively large state subsidies, skilled semiconductor-industry workers and easy access to California, the biggest U.S. solar market. State and local government officials are heavily promoting Oregon as a renewable-energy center, trying to build critical mass in the growing solar and wind sectors.


Yet Oregon faces fierce competition as companies in China gear up big factories, bringing down solar-cell prices, and as other nations and U.S. states dangle incentives. Last year, for example, a Norwegian manufacturer ranked Hillsboro as its top U.S. site for a complex that could have employed 3,000, only to locate in Singapore.

The competition pushes governments to offer escalating subsidies, even as the recession erodes their budgets. State tax credits could pay for half of Sanyo's $80 million plant, at more than $200,000 per job.

Another Japanese solar company, a Sharp Corp. subsidiary, also may be searching for a West Coast manufacturing site. But Pederson says Sharp isn't specifically considering Hillsboro, and a U.S. spokesman says he has no information on such a search.

Federal tax credit
Congress reignited foreign interest in the U.S. solar market in October when it enhanced a federal solar tax credit and extended it for eight years, says Monique Hanis, a Solar Energy Industries Association spokeswoman in Washington, D.C.
"That was a huge signal to the world that the U.S. is now a viable market for solar," Hanis says. Businesses, utilities and homeowners are expected to buy solar panels to cut energy costs and reduce their impact on the environment.

Predictions of a global solar-cell glut as more factories start up are overrated, Hanis says. An oversupply would last two years at most, she says.

Multnomah County commissioners voted last month to abate property taxes on investments above $100 million at the Gresham site of interest to the European solar firm. The Oregon Economic and Community Development Commission could vote to authorize the tax cap at a Jan. 16 Salem meeting. The site would become the state's first strategic investment zone, an entity approved by the Legislature in 2005.

In the Gresham zone each year, a company with capped taxes would pay the lesser of $2 million or 25 percent of abated taxes. The $100 million cap would increase by 3 percent a year, and would not exceed 15 years.

Multnomah County Commissioner Jeff Cogen says the company considering LSI Corp.'s undeveloped land in Gresham has been discussing more potential incentives with the Oregon Economic and Community Development Department. Cogen doesn't know where the foreign solar company is based, but he says employment could be substantial.




2,000 jobs?


"The number I've heard is 2,000 to 3,000 jobs," Cogen says. "But don't take that to the bank."

Gresham Mayor Shane Bemis declines to comment on specific companies interested in the 222-acre site, which went on sale in late October for $55.5 million. Semiconductor-maker LSI, which sold a factory ringed by the site to ON Semiconductor Corp. in 2006, originally intended to build more plants on the land now for sale.

"We've had many companies take a look at this property," says Janet Young, Gresham economic development manager. "My ideal purchaser would be a manufacturer, someone who has high employment."

Young declines to name the interested European solar company, as does Hamilton Southworth, corporate managing director in San Diego for Studley, the firm marketing the property for LSI. Southworth says he heard last week the company might opt for an Asian site instead, but officials say they believe Gresham remains in play.

"It wouldn't be a plant" on the site, Southworth says. "It would be 'plants.'"

Southworth says companies are hopscotching the globe, playing one jurisdiction against the next for incentives.

"Oregon and the city of Gresham are doing their damndest to attract companies," Southworth says. "But these companies have the entire world to choose from."


Staff writer Catherine Trevison contributed to this report.

[Grantenfuego]

Oregon's solar highway project open to visitors

By Christina Williams

Sustainable Business Oregon editor


http://www.sustainablebusinessoregon.com/articles/2012/08/oregons-solar-highway-project-open-to.html

The nation's largest solar highway project — an array of 7,000 solar panels across seven acres — is now open for visitors.

The Baldock Solar Station, a 1.75 megawatt installation, is located along Interstate 5 northbound near Wilsonville. The Baldock project is a partnership between Portland General Electric (NYSE: POR) and Oregon Department of Transportation.

Visitors will learn about solar power and solar installations along Oregon's highways. The exhibits border a sustainable community garden put in by Oregon State University Master Gardeners.

The $10 million solar array went online in January and is expected to produce 1.97 million kilowatt-hours of energy each year — equivalent to 11 percent of ODOT’s need in PGE’s service territory.

The project features 6,994 panels produced by SolarWorld of Hillsboro, with inverters provided by Advanced Energy of Bend.

Baldock is the second joint highway solar project between PGE and ODOT and will help PGE meet the state’s Renewable Energy Standard of providing 25 percent of its power from renewable energy sources by 2025. To date, PGE has a combined 37.7 megawatts of solar power online by utility and customer resources in Oregon. Nearly 3,000 PGE customers have solar electric systems installed on their homes and businesses.

Bank of America provided financing for the project, with additional support provided by Energy Trust of Oregon, PGE’s Clean Wind program and the state’s Business Energy Tax Credit program.