Chinese Suntech starts 30-MW panel production project in Arizona, seeks to boost capacity

(ADPnews) - Oct 11, 2010 - Chinese solar panels maker Suntech Power Holdings Co Ltd (HKG:1166) said on Friday it had opened a module manufacturing facility in Arizona with an initial capacity of 30 MW, to be expanded to 50 MW in early 2011.

The company plans to boost the Goodyear facility's annual capacity to as much as 120 MW in future, to meet the increasing demand in the US.

"Our new US manufacturing plant will provide a local platform to meet the burgeoning demand for solar products in the US and Canadian markets, which we expect to exceed 1 GW for the first time in 2010," Suntech America's president, Steven Chan, said.

The headcount of the plant, Suntech's first production unit in the US, will reach over 75 people by the end of December 2010, and is expected to exceed 150 workers by the end of 2011, the company said.

The facility, covering 117,000 square feet (10,900 sq m), will make Suntech's 280 W Vd-series modules, which are generally used for commercial and utility-scale power projects. All produced modules will be compliant for procurement in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act developments.

Suntech has already established more than 400 dealership partnerships in the US, with its shipments in North America in the third quarter of 2010 beating the result for the whole of 2009, it said.

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