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SolarWorld Opens North America's Largest Solar Cell Manufacturing Facility

Posted on: Friday, 17 October 2008, 15:00 CDT

HILLSBORO, Ore., Oct. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- SolarWorld, a world leader in high quality solar power technology, today opens North America's largest solar cell manufacturing facility. The new plant is located in Hillsboro, Oregon and is expected to reach a capacity of 500 megawatts (MW) by 2011.

Solar power is increasingly considered the most promising energy alternative because of advances in technology and high-volume manufacturing. Facilities like the one SolarWorld is pioneering will reduce the costs of solar power and increase the number of green jobs, accelerating commercial and residential installations of solar panels and overall economic growth.

"The need for affordable and efficient energy alternatives represents a global issue and is more critical than ever," said Frank A. Asbeck, CEO of SolarWorld. "SolarWorld has more than 30 years invested in solar technologies and today is helping to bring real alternatives to market through a strategy focused on high-volume manufacturing. The new Hillsboro facility is our most shining example of this strategy in practice."

The solar industry is expected to grow to $74 billion in 2017 from $20 billion in 2007, according to a projection by Clean Edge Inc., a market research firm focused on clean technology. SolarWorld's fully integrated solar silicon wafer and solar cell production facility will fuel this burgeoning market. The company expects to employ 1,000 people at the Hillsboro facility by 2011 to meet this increasing demand worldwide.

SolarWorld Hillsboro is a 480,000 square foot facility, measuring one-quarter mile end-to-end. Raw silicon is transformed through the manufacturing process into solar cells that are shipped to the SolarWorld Camarillo plant where they are processed into solar panels. SolarWorld acquired the Hillsboro factory, which belonged to Japan's Komatsu Group, in March 2007 for $40 million and is investing more than $400 million in the new facility. The Hillsboro plant today becomes home to SolarWorld Industries America headquarters.

"SolarWorld Hillsboro illustrates how we move the needle on delivering solar energy, and on a global economy that is fueled by green jobs," said Boris Klebensberger, Chief Operations Officer. "The Pacific Northwest possesses a hotbed of talent in both silicon manufacturing and clean-technologies. Oregon is the obvious choice for where to undertake this new level of solar cell manufacturing."

Oregon officials, including Governor Ted Kulongoski, Congressmen David Wu and Senator Ron Wyden joined SolarWorld executives and community members today for a Grand Opening Ceremony that included a ribbon-cutting ceremony and tour.

Headquartered in Germany and founded n 1977, SolarWorld is a veteran of the clean tech industry in a sea of startups. The company conducted its IPO in Germany in 1999 when most technology companies were emerged in dotcom. Today, SolarWorld is one of the most successful clean tech companies on the planet.

SolarWorld has production facilities in Germany and the United States, including in California, Oregon and Washington, and is establishing a joint venture for module production in South Korea. The company delivers its products to market from sales offices in Germany, Singapore, South Africa, Spain and the United States.

About SolarWorld AG

The SolarWorld AG group of companies (ISIN: DE0005108401) is a world leader in high quality solar power technology. The company is involved at all levels of the solar value chain and combines all activities of the solar industry from silicon as the raw material to turn-key solar power system. SolarWorld AG is represented in all the world's solar growth markets. The group is exclusively dedicated to its core business of photovoltaic power generation operating production facilities in Germany and the USA. They in turn supply the SolarWorld AG sales offices in Germany, Spain, USA, South Africa and Singapore. In South Korea SolarWorld AG is currently building up a solar module production facility in order to be able to serve the growing demand in Asia on the spot in the future. The central element of the business in addition to the sale of turn-key solar systems and solar modules to the trade is the distribution of solar silicon wafers to the international solar cell industry. Apart from grid-coupled (on-grid) products the SolarWorld Group also sells off-grid solar power solutions that make an important contribution to the sustainable economic development of threshold and developing countries. Under the name Solar2World the group has pooled its ethical commitment to solar power especially in developing countries. SolarWorld AG employs more than 2,000 people worldwide. At the stock market the company is listed among others in the technology index TecDAX, in the OkoDAX, in the Dow Jones STOXX 600, in the international MSCI index as well as in the sustainability indices DAXglobal Alternative Energy and NAI.

Media Contacts Christina Williams Page One PR for SolarWorld 503 206 7775 503 539 3619 Christina@pageonepr.com Jennifer Cloer Page One PR for SolarWorld 503 746 7577 503 867 2304 Jennifer@pageonepr.com Anne Schneider SolarWorld Group PR & Marketing 25300 Evergreen Road Hillsboro, OR 97124 Mobile: +1 805 444 7425 Office: +1 503 844 3417 anne.schneider@solarworld-usa.com

SolarWorld

CONTACT: Christina Williams, +1-503-206-7775, or +1-503-539-3619,Christina@pageonepr.com, or Jennifer Cloer, +1-503-746-7577, or+1-503-867-2304, Jennifer@pageonepr.com, both of Page One PR for SolarWorld;or Anne Schneider PR & Marketing of SolarWorld Group, mobile, +1-805-444-7425,office, +1-503-844-3417, anne.schneider@solarworld-usa.com

Source: PRNewswire

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