Suntech Selects Arizona for First U.S. Manufacturing Plant
16 11월 2009 - 12:30PM
PR Newswire (US)
Solar Leader Brings Green Manufacturing Jobs from China to the
United States BEIJING, Nov. 15 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- From the U.S.
China Green Tech Summit today, Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd.
(NYSE:STP), announced that its first U.S. manufacturing plant for
the growing North American market would be located in the Greater
Phoenix, Arizona area. The plant will have an initial production
capacity of 30 megawatts (MW) and is expected to begin production
in the third quarter of 2010. The announcement makes Suntech the
first Chinese cleantech leader to bring manufacturing jobs to
America. Suntech selected the Greater Phoenix area for its plant
because of Arizona's leadership in research through Arizona State
University, and statewide renewable energy policies, particularly
its Renewable Energy Standard and distributed generation set-aside,
as well as a supportive local business climate represented by the
Greater Phoenix Economic Council. The Suntech U.S. plant will
employ over 75 full-time employees at launch and may double its
staff within the year as the North American market develops.
Initially starting with 30 MW of PV module production capacity, the
Suntech plant is configured for growth to respond to the expected
expansion of the U.S. solar market in the coming years. The U.S.
market had 356MW of solar PV capacity installed during 2008
(source: Photon Magazine, Nov. 2009), and is expected to grow
six-fold to more than 2GW by 2012 (source: Solarbuzz LLC, Mar.
2009). "Bringing manufacturing jobs to the U.S. is part of
Suntech's vision to grow the solar market in every corner of the
world," said Suntech's Chairman and CEO Dr. Zhengrong Shi. "We are
eagerly watching growing markets and see the potential of bringing
manufacturing capabilities to other markets where we see the
combination of rapid local market growth and manufacturing cost
competitiveness." Locating the plant close to Suntech's U.S.
customers will reduce the time, costs, and emissions associated
with long-distance shipping of Suntech panels. The plant, which
will be approximately 80,000 to 100,000 square feet, will allow for
long-term growth of manufacturing capabilities to meet increasing
American demand for solar power. "Suntech has been a leader to
watch for some time, and its decision to bring manufacturing here
to the U.S. is a great sign of the increasingly important
collaboration between Chinese and American leaders in the renewable
energy industry, as well as the potential for growth of green jobs
in countries that implement smart, supportive policies," said Dan
Kammen, Professor in the Energy and Resources Group and Director of
the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory at the University
of California, Berkeley. Dr. Shi continued, "This is the first step
in what I see as a long-term, strategic investment in the North
American market. Over the last two years we have grown our U.S.
team to over 60 employees. As a result of that effort, we have
developed a network of over 200 solar dealers and integrators
installing Suntech products and are actively involved with a number
of large-scale solar project developers serving the utility market.
We also have developed strong partnerships with U.S. companies such
as MEMC of Pasadena, Texas, our largest supplier of silicon wafers
used in our modules. The leadership shown by the US government in
advancing renewable energy will only improve the environment for
further investments in the coming years." Suntech plans to make a
final decision on the specific location of the plant in the coming
weeks. About Suntech Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. (NYSE:STP) is
the world's leading solar energy company as measured by production
output of crystalline silicon solar modules. Suntech designs,
develops, manufactures, and markets premium quality, high-output,
cost-effective and environmentally friendly solar products for
electric power applications in the residential, commercial,
industrial, and public utility sectors. Suntech offers an extensive
range of customer-centric innovations, including its patent-pending
Pluto technology for crystalline silicon solar cells, which
improves power output by up to 12% compared to conventional
production methods, its Reliathon(TM) module and platform, the
industry's first fully integrated utility-scale solar platform, and
its broad range of building-integrated solar products. Suntech
designs and delivers commercial and utility scale solar power
systems in China and the United States. With regional headquarters
in China, Switzerland and San Francisco and sales offices
worldwide, Suntech is passionate about improving the environment we
live in and dedicated to developing advanced solar solutions that
enable sustainable development. For more information, please visit
http://www.suntech-power.com/ . Safe Harbor Statement This press
release contains forward-looking statements. These statements
constitute "forward-looking" statements within the meaning of
Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section
21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and as
defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by
terminology such as "will," "expects," "anticipates," "future,"
"intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates" and similar statements,
and includes the expected growth of the U.S. solar market, timing
of the opening of Suntech's Phoenix, Arizona manufacturing plant;
the number of expected employees at time of opening of the plant;
forecasted production output, forecasted employee growth, and
growth of manufacturing capacity. Such statements involve certain
risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ
materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Further
information regarding these and other risks is included in
Suntech's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission,
including its annual report on Form 20-F. Suntech does not
undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement as
a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as
required under applicable law. For more information, please
contact: In the United States: Sarahjane Sacchetti Story Labs for
Suntech America Tel: +1-415-268-8881 Email: In China: Rory
Macpherson Investor Relations Director Suntech Power Holdings Co.,
Ltd. Tel: +86-21-6288-5574 Email: DATASOURCE: Suntech Power
Holdings Co., Ltd. CONTACT: In the United States, Sarahjane
Sacchetti of Story Labs for Suntech America, +1-415-268-8881, or ;
or in China, Rory Macpherson, Investor Relations Director of
Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd., +86-21-6288-5574, or Web Site:
http://www.suntech-power.com/
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