Solar cell plant sets up in the Philippines

SunPower Corp has inaugurated its first high volume manufacturing plant.

SunPower Corp has inaugurated its first high volume manufacturing plant.

SunPower Philippines Manufacturing (SPM), located near Manila, is the first semiconductor fab in the Philippines and the first large-scale solar-cell facility in Southeast Asia.

The plant will initially turn out 25MW per year of high-efficiency silicon solar cells to meet the increasing worldwide demand for clean, reliable solar electric power systems.

At this production rate, SPM will employ approximately 200 people.

The SPM building footprint is designed to allow future capacity expansion to more than 100MW per year.

"The benefits of operating in the Philippines are significant", said SunPower Chief Executive Officer Tom Werner.

"We value the country's highly educated workforce, the proximity to key markets, and their rapidly improving infrastructure; we believe that solar is a particularly appropriate technology in rural areas and developing countries lacking large-scale power grids.

The combination of a world class facility, a cost effective location, and proven high volume silicon manufacturing expertise of Cypress will enable SunPower to deliver extremely high performance solar cells with unique aesthetics at a competitive price".

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