Apr 27 2010
SunPower Corp., a producer of efficient solar panels, solar cells and solar systems, is partnering with Flextronics to manufacture solar panels at Milpitas, California by late 2010.
The partnership is likely to bring around 100 new jobs in 2010 and manufacture 75 MW of solar panels each year. The manufactured solar panels will be supplied for installation purposes to commercial, public and residential facilities as well as power plants.
Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Governor of California, commented that the new partnership will help businesses and homes to save money and energy by going solar.
The manufacturing facility was established as a result of the three-year agreement that SunPower Corp. has with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) through the Solar Energy Technologies Program. As per the agreement, SunPower Corp. can receive federal funding of around $24 million for implementing improvements across its processes that decrease solar system costs. This DOE funding supports R&D of the solar panel manufacturing system used in the facility in addition to the commercial tracking and rooftop power plant systems.
In 2009, SunPower Corp. introduced its solar rooftop system SunPower T5 Solar Roof Tile under the SAI program. As on date, the company has supplied these solar rooftop systems to customers including Harvard University and Agilent Technologies. Recently, SunPower Corp. received a contract from Southern California Edison to supply 200 MW of the technology.