Solar-panel plant to open in Tucson

Following is an article which appeared this last weekend in the Sunday edition of the Arizona Republic. To me, it's a positive step toward investigating alternative means of energy. But given the cost of the technology and the fact that the company is German-owned, what does this REALLY do for America, other than bringing jobs to the local economy? Do you think this product will be marked down for the underpaid workers who will work this plant?

Hmmmmph..........................................................

On to the article I guess.
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Solar-panel plant to open in Tucson
Subsidiary of German manufacturing company Solon

CATHRYN CRENO
The Arizona Republic
Link to original article: http://www.azcentral.com/business/articles/2008/09/14/20080914biz-solar0914-ON.html


A Tucson subsidiary of a German solar manufacturing company says it will open a 105,000-square-foot factory in the southern Arizona city next month and create 200 green-collar jobs in Arizona by the end of 2009.

Solon Corp. , a subsidiary of Solon AG in Berlin, said it will manufacture individual photovoltaic solar modules that go on the roofs of buildings as well as larger systems the company says can operate as self-sufficient solar-energy power plants.

"We have been very low-profile," said Neil Shea, director of business development and marketing for Solon Corp. "Not a lot of people know about us yet. But this business is very growth-oriented. There are going to be a lot of good jobs in it in the future."

He said the factory will open at 6950 S. Country Club Road in Tucson on Oct. 17.

In June, the Greater Phoenix Economic Council said that Arizona would miss out on more than 3,800 new jobs, $2.3 billion in investment and $732 million in state and local revenues in the next decade because nine solar companies last year could have come here but elected to settle in other states.

Solar companies are coveted in areas that are losing semiconductor jobs. GPEC said the number of Arizonans working for semiconductor and related manufacturers has dropped from about 34,000 in 2001 to about 22,000 in 2007.

Both candidates in this year's presidential election are pushing alternative-energy sources. They also advocate creation of what politicians have been calling green-collar jobs.

Shea, who worked in the semiconductor industry before getting interested in solar, said Solon arrived in Arizona in 2007 and opened a smaller temporary factory in Tucson that spring. He said the company now employs about 100 people who make solar panels for use in Germany as well as in the U.S. He said he expected the new factory to employ 200 by the end of 2009.

Solon has owned part of Tucson-based Global Solar Energy Inc. since 2006. That company also makes solar panels, but uses a different manufacturing process to create lightweight flexible products said to be portable enough to be used by campers and the military.

Shea said Solon intends to target larger customers such as municipalities, schools and companies that want enough panels to be energy self-sufficient. He said Solon does not sell solar panels directly to individual homeowners but would instead supply them to a company that outfits homes with systems.

Shea said the Tucson factory's customers include the Salt River Project, Sulphur Springs Valley Electric Cooperative Inc. in southern Arizona, Tucson Electric Power Co. and Blue Ridge High School in Lakeside. The school ordered solar modules to generate power on top of a covered parking structure.