SolarWorld Grand Opening
Earlier this month, Commissioner Cogen attended the grand opening celebration of the new SolarWorld AG factory in Hillsboro. The plant is now up and running, producing thousands of photovoltaic solar cells everyday.
The well attended festivities included a soccer-themed introduction ceremony where all nine SolarWorld sites around the world were represented as members of an integrated team; a fabulous international lunch buffet; and tours of the factory (formerly a semi-conductor fabrication plant that had been shuttered for almost 10 years). On our tour of the factory we saw long silicon ingots being grown, cut, and finished into solar cells.
It was great to get an up close look at this huge and impressive solar operation right here in Oregon. The Oregon Department of Energy's aggressive Business Energy Tax Credit program is largely responsible for the impressive and growing renewable energy development coming to our state. The SolarWorld plant is anticipated to employ around 1,000 workers after full production ramp-up. The recently published Carbon Free Prosperity 2025 Report published by Clean Edge and Climate Solutions identifies Oregon and Washington's solar energy sector as employing 14,000 between 22,000 people in 2025.
Posted on October 30, 2008
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