Jun 7 2008
Suniva Inc., a manufacturer of high value crystalline silicon solar cells, today announced plans to locate its first solar cell factory in Gwinnett County, Ga. The new facility, located within the Atlanta metro area, represents a major milestone for the company and follows a successful $50 million financing round led by New Enterprise Associates and Advanced Equities, Inc. Currently headquartered in Atlanta, Suniva expects its new facility to create approximately 100 additional jobs in the region within its first year of operation.
Suniva’s new factory is designed to redefine the manufacturing process for high-efficiency solar cells in order to bring down the cost of photovoltaics, with an initial capacity of 32 megawatts (MW) on its first line. The company is already planning additional lines and expects to scale to more than 100 MW over the next two years. Governor Sonny Perdue spoke about the company’s local expansion this afternoon at the State Capitol.
“I am pleased that Suniva, one of Georgia’s homegrown technology leaders, has chosen to locate its new solar cell manufacturing facility here,” said Governor Perdue. “Following our commitment to becoming a Bioenergy Corridor, Suniva’s production commitment has expanded our clean energy success into the solar arena, and the company is poised to create well-paying jobs for our state and raise our profile in the international cleantech market.”
The Technology Association of Georgia recently recognized Suniva as one of the state’s Top 10 Innovative Technology Companies, based on the company’s technical innovation, likelihood of success and financial impact. In addition to backing from the state level, the Gwinnett Chamber Economic Development team has provided valuable support for Suniva’s new operations. “We are very excited to have Suniva come to Gwinnett,” commented Gwinnett County Commission Chairman Charles Bannister. “Suniva will bring cutting-edge, leading solar technology and many high-wage jobs to the area, significantly adding to the success of our community-wide economic development initiative responsible for creating 65,000 new jobs and $5.8 billion in new wealth.”
“As the solar industry looks to bring down costs and compete with conventional power, Suniva has built the team and the technology to execute on our vision of low-cost, high-efficiency solar energy,” said John Baumstark, CEO of Suniva. “We are pleased to be moving into our next phase of growth close to home, and we are interested in working with state and local government to create an ecosystem of clean energy companies in the Atlanta metro area.”