The SunPower and Flextronics partnership is expected to produce 75MW of SunPower solar panels annually and create approximately 100 new jobs this year.
The West Coast location will allow SunPower to cost-effectively supply panels to solar installations at homes, commercial and public facilities, and power plants throughout the Western US, the company said.
Establishing a US manufacturing facility is a direct result of SunPower’s three-year agreement with the US Department of Energy (DOE) under the Solar Energy Technologies Program. Under the agreement, which was initiated in 2007, SunPower may receive up to $24m of federal funding to implement improvements across the value chain that reduce solar system costs through improvements in the design and manufacture of integrated solar power systems.
Funding from the DOE supports the research and development of both the solar panel manufacturing equipment ordered for this facility as well as commercial rooftop and tracking power plant systems, which will incorporate the solar panels.
Four of the equipment suppliers for SunPower’s solar panel manufacturing line manufacture their tools in the US. The equipment set used in US will also be exported to a solar panel manufacturing facility located in Europe. SunPower plans to apply a US federal manufacturing tax credit awarded to it from federal stimulus dollars by the DOE to support its investment in the manufacturing equipment purchased for Silicon Valley.
