With a $25 million loan and $18.25 million in tax credits, state officials enticed Solexant to build a manufacturing plant near Portland. It will be Oregon's first thin-film solar panel facility and the largest nanotechnology production site on the planet.
Oregon residents are optimistic about the plant. Solexant's investment, Oregon governor Ted Kulongoski said, "will mean jobs immediately for Oregonians with the promise of more in the future."
The facility will have an initial capacity of 100 megawatts of panels per year. If demand warrants, Solexant said, more manufacturing lines would be built.
The plant, located in the Portland suburb of Gresham, "will prove the commercial application of [Solexant's] nanocrystal ultrathin-film solar cell technology in a very capital-efficient way," company CEO Damoder Reddy noted.
Demand for solar equipment is on the rise: In capacity terms, America and Europe added more renewable than conventional power last year, according to the United Nations Environment Programme. And, as Solexant's experience demonstrates, states are making generous incentives available to encourage the establishment of solar manufacturing operations.
