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: ssacchetti@suntechamerica.com
In China:
Rory Macpherson
Investor Relations Director
Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd.
Tel: +86-21-6288-5574
Email: rory@suntech-power.com
SOURCE Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd.
In the United States, Sarahjane Sacchetti of Story Labs for Suntech America, +1-415-268-8881, or ssacchetti@suntechamerica.com; or in China, Rory Macpherson, Investor Relations Director of Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd., +86-21-6288-5574, or rory@suntech-power.com
