US based Stion, a manufacturer of thin-film solar panels, will build a new production facility in Mississippi as part of an incentive agreement with the state that includes a $75m loan and other tax and training incentives.
Stion said that the first phase of the solar panel production facility includes a 100MW line planned for Hattiesburg, Mississippi, with an initial investment of $500m.
Stion plans to manufacture the solar panels in an approximately 300,000sq ft of the Hattiesburg facility.
Stion is producing high-efficiency, thin-film solar panels using monolithically integrated circuits.
Mississippi governor Haley Barbour said that the announcement that Stion is locating a thin-film solar panel manufacturing facility in Hattiesburg is further proof that Mississippi is an ideal location for clean energy companies to locate and expand.
In June 2010, Stion closed a $70m Series D financing to help scale production, which included a partnership with Taiwan Semiconductor.