Chinese-based SunTech, the world's largest manufacturer of solar panels, has added a third shift at its only U.S. facility. The plant, built in 2010 in Goodyear, Arizona, will now produce 15,000 solar panels a month, for an annualized throughput of 50MW.
"With growing demand for our U.S.-manufactured panels," says Mike Starr, SunTech's Arizona production manager, "we're excited to increase our production capacity and drive growth in Arizona's solar industry."
Solar Friendly Environment
The 117,000 square-foot plant was built in suburban Phoenix after strong competition to land the first Chinese solar manufacturing facility in the country. The state's Renewable Energy Standard (RES) was a major factor in attracting SunTech, company officials said at the time. Set by the Arizona Corporation Commission in 2006, the RES requires that utilities generate 15% of electricity from renewable sources by 2025 -- with 30% of that coming from distributed sources, such as residential rooftop solar panels.
The increase at the Goodyear plant adds 30 jobs, for a total of 107 employees, and allows the plant to run 24-hours a day.
When the plant opened in October 2010, 40 employees produced solar panels at an annual rate of 30 MW. If expansion plans continue on schedule, said Steven Chen, president of Suntech America, the facility will be turning out 120MW of PV panels annually in the next few years.
