Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue Welcomes Volume Production of Solar
Cells
ATLANTA--(Business Wire)--
Suniva Inc., a manufacturer of high value crystalline silicon
solar cells, today announced plans to locate its first solar cell
factory in Gwinnett County, Ga. The new facility, located within the
Atlanta metro area, represents a major milestone for the company and
follows a successful $50 million financing round led by New Enterprise
Associates and Advanced Equities, Inc. Currently headquartered in
Atlanta, Suniva expects its new facility to create approximately 100
additional jobs in the region within its first year of operation.
Suniva's new factory is designed to redefine the manufacturing
process for high-efficiency solar cells in order to bring down the
cost of photovoltaics, with an initial capacity of 32 megawatts (MW)
on its first line. The company is already planning additional lines
and expects to scale to more than 100 MW over the next two years.
Governor Sonny Perdue spoke about the company's local expansion this
afternoon at the State Capitol.
"I am pleased that Suniva, one of Georgia's homegrown technology
leaders, has chosen to locate its new solar cell manufacturing
facility here," said Governor Perdue. "Following our commitment to
becoming a Bioenergy Corridor, Suniva's production commitment has
expanded our clean energy success into the solar arena, and the
company is poised to create well-paying jobs for our state and raise
our profile in the international cleantech market."
The Technology Association of Georgia recently recognized Suniva
as one of the state's Top 10 Innovative Technology Companies, based on
the company's technical innovation, likelihood of success and
financial impact. In addition to backing from the state level, the
Gwinnett Chamber Economic Development team has provided valuable
support for Suniva's new operations. "We are very excited to have
Suniva come to Gwinnett," commented Gwinnett County Commission
Chairman Charles Bannister. "Suniva will bring cutting-edge, leading
solar technology and many high-wage jobs to the area, significantly
adding to the success of our community-wide economic development
initiative responsible for creating 65,000 new jobs and $5.8 billion
in new wealth."
"As the solar industry looks to bring down costs and compete with
conventional power, Suniva has built the team and the technology to
execute on our vision of low-cost, high-efficiency solar energy," said
John Baumstark, CEO of Suniva. "We are pleased to be moving into our
next phase of growth close to home, and we are interested in working
with state and local government to create an ecosystem of clean energy
companies in the Atlanta metro area."
About Suniva
Based in Atlanta, Suniva develops, manufactures and markets
high-value crystalline silicon photovoltaic (PV) cells for clean solar
power generation. The company has an exclusive license to critical
patents and patent-pending intellectual property developed by founder
and CTO Dr. Ajeet Rohatgi at the Georgia Institute of Technology's
University Center of Excellence in Photovoltaics, the nation's premier
silicon PV research center. In addition, the company's deep process
know-how and unique approach to manufacturing delivers leading solar
cell performance while dramatically cutting the cost of PV-generated
electricity. For additional information, please visit
http://www.suniva.com.
For Suniva
Antenna Group
Press Contact:
Sonia Aggarwal
415-977-1921
sonia@antennagroup.com
Copyright Business Wire 2008
