Soitec recently purchased a manufacturing facility in Rancho Bernardo, California, where the company plans to produce its concentrator photovoltaic modules that it will be available to the U.S. renewable energy market.

"Bringing Soitec's solar manufacturing business here has been an example of successful collaboration between the city, the nonprofit CleanTECH San Diego, the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation, SDG&E and the University of California, San Diego," said Mayor Jerry Sanders of San Diego.

The company is expected to produce enough solar panels for a yearly output of approximately 400 megawatts of solar energy per year. The new facility will create 450 jobs on-site and more than 1,000 indirect jobs.

With Soitec moving to the San Diego area, many businesses in the Southwest will be able to utilize the power of solar energy.

While a PV module manufacturing facility is coming to California, another solar energy leader, CertainTeed has announced it is expanding its solar roofing products with the introduction of Avancis PowerMax R PV modules to be easily integrated in commercial solar energy systems.