Oregon Wins Landmark Nano Solar Cell Plant

Oregon is already home to the largest solar panel manufacturing plant in North America, thanks to SolarWorld’s continental headquarters in Hillsboro just west of Portland. Now, the Portland area — one of the most sustainable in the land — will receive another landmark boost from the renewable energy sector. This morning, Solexant Corp. announced that it will build a 110-megawatt thin-film production plant in Gresham,  east of Portland.

The thin-film plant will be the first of its kind in the world, according to Solexant. The San Jose, CA-based company utilizes technology developed at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (one-time workplace of Energy Secretary Stephen Chu) to manufacture printable nanocrystal solar cells using special inks.

While the company already operates a 2-MW pilot plant in California, the Gresham plant will represent its first step into large-scale production. The plant will initially employ about 100 workers, increasing to 170 at full production. Furthermore, if all goes well for Solexant, there is the long-term possibility of increasing annual production to 1,000 MW, which could add up to 1,000 new jobs in Gresham.

Solexant has qualified for $18.75 million in tax credits for the manufacturing facility, and will also receive a $25 million loan from the Oregon Department of Energy’s small-scale energy loan program (SELP). When finalized, this will be the largest SELP award ever offered, and will be doled out in two installments of $6 million before a final $13-million installment. Because the award is so large, the town of Gresham has been required by the ODOE to guarantee the final $13 million.

The winning of a thin-film manufacturing plant adds nicely to Oregon’s growing solar energy portfolio. In addition to the 500 MW SolarWorld plant, Oregon is leading the nation in many other ways as well. Not least of those is a new pilot feed-in tariff similar to that which made Germany a global leader in solar power.

Solexant’s nanocrystal solar cells are, according to a company press release, “The first solar cells based on ultrathin films incorporating nanocrystals made of high‐performance, inorganic materials.” The company also claims cost savings of up to 50 percent compared to other PV technologies, due to high-efficiency materials and low-cost production. The secret, apparently, is the use of inorganic materials (as opposed to low-efficiency organic materials) to produce a flexible thin-film solar cell.

Source & first picture: OregonLive
Second photo: GreenTechMedia

Posted on July 23rd in Solar News by Dan.