SunPower Plans for Made-in-America Products

By Ucilia Wang

SunPower (SPWRA) plans to build a panel assembly plant in the United States by the end of 2010, said CEO Tom Werner.

Werner told the Reuters that the company is applying for federal dollars to help fund the factory construction, but he didn't want to say how much. SunPower might end up producing a quarter of its panels at the U.S. factory, he added.

Why? Building regional assembly plants cuts down transportation costs. Several states---Oregon, Arizona, etc.--also offer tremendous tax breaks. Roger Little, CEO of Spire, advocates a "50 Plants for 50 States" model.

SunPower has previously discussed building factories in the United States. The company mentioned the plan when it announced it had hired Jabil Circuit of St. Petersburg, Fla., to assemble SunPower's solar cells into panels in Jabil's plant in Mexico.

The company said the move would shave its expenses and allow it to better serve the North American market. The United States is the company's biggest market.

SunPower has its own cell and panel assembly plants in the Philippines, and is building a cell factory in Malaysia.

Many of SunPower's European and Asian competitors have set up factories in the United States, including Sanyo, SolarWorld, Schott Solar and Sharp. Suntech Power plans to set up a panel assembly plant, reportedly in Arizona.

Comments

[renuablnrg:]

Fantastic!!!

Sep 14 03:59 PM

[disdaniel:]

Smart move.

Sep 29 12:14 PM