| HelioSphera Plans 160MW Solar Factory in Philly |
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| Written by GTD Editor |
| Tuesday, 01 December 2009 14:49 |
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HelioSphera US will start building the 500,000-square foot factory in the Navy Yard next year, and expects to start operating it in 2011, reported the Philadelphia Inquirer. The company said the $500 million plant will employ 400 people when it begins operations in late 2011. It will be able to produce 1.2 million thin-film solar modules per year. Panos Ninios, president of HelioSphera US, said the company chose the Navy Yard site after reaching out to eight states and visiting 35 locations. He said that the quality of Philadelphia's workforce, the proximity to transportation, and the government incentives sealed the deal for the city. Rendell said the grants and loans were a small price to pay to attract a facility that could provide a major boost to the vision of creating a campus of clean-energy businesses at the former Philadelphia Naval Shipyard site in South Philadelphia. "We believe there's significant growth potential here," the governor said at a news conference attended by Ninios and Mayor Nutter. "We believe if you fast-forward the clock to 10 years from now, that 400 jobs may be just a fraction of the number of people whom we employ here as solar continues to grow." Funded by Plainfield Asset Management and Sciens Capital Management, HelioSphera only recently opened a 60-megawatt factory in Tripoli. That factory uses equipment from Oerlikon Solar in Switzerland to make solar panels that feature a layer of amorphous silicon and a layer of microcrystaline silicon. HelioSphera hasn't said whether it plans to use Oerlikon's equipment for the Philadelphia factory as well. Chris O'Brien, head of the North America marketing for Oerlikon Solar, declined to comment. O'Brien spoke at the Thin Film Solar Summit in San Francisco Tuesday. The state offered $20 million from the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program, and the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corp. offered the 40-acre Navy Yard site for $1. The property is in the undeveloped eastern part of the Navy Yard and will require substantial infrastructure investment, as well as some wetlands mitigation, said John Grady, senior vice president of the PIDC. New York state offered an incentive package that Pennsylvania officials valued at $40 million, so Rendell increased the state's offer to include other loans and grants, including some pending federal stimulus-grant money. "It was necessary for us to compete at a significant level," Rendell said. But he said the HelioSphera's private funds would total about nine times the state's investment, and the income taxes from the 400 jobs, as well as construction jobs, "will surpass our investment in a short order." In addition to the grants and loans, the project would be eligible for Keystone Opportunity Improvement Zone benefits, which would exempt it from state and local business taxes until 2025. A growing number of European and Asian solar companies are opening factories in the U.S. to take advantage of a growing market and the economic stimulus plan by the federal government to give billion of dollars in grants and loan guarantees to renewable energy equipment manufacturers and power plant developers. Many states have required their utilities to increase their purchases of renewable electricity. These states are offering rebates for consumers and businesses to install solar energy systems. Comments (8)
  written by Ralph Sabean, December 07, 2009
There was a couple mistakes in my first comment so please use this one from beyond this point if you deem it worth publishing as an article.
This is so wonderful to see the USA making really positive commitments to long term goals in solar energy. I am not sure if my Country Canada is even in this race to build the best solar energy systems. I'm sure with the great amount of cells being built the price will hopefully go way down so people on meager income will be able to build or reformat homes with solar. There will be lots of use for many years for fossil fuels probably even in the making of these solar panels. You can bet that a lot of oil companies will profit from these solar companies one way or another. In the finale all homes should be solar powered as well as cars and all types of machinery. To run cities we could make use of deserts for sunlight and silicon. These unused portions of our planet would finally be used for the betterment of civilization. With so much of our suns energy that could easily be produced in mass amounts we could even start gardening parts of the deserts a little at a time. We might even see a few deserts bloom like it talks about in the bible. I just hope Canada doesn't just wait and see what other countries are doing before they put their best foot forward. We all need to take that giant bull by the horns and thrash all the green energy out of it that we can. People it's truly our lives we will be saving so do all you can and if you think two years make it six months to a year cause we need it done yesterday. Good speed to all.
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With a promise of $49 million in inducements from Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, a Greek solar-cell maker says it will break ground next year on a sprawling manufacturing facility in Philadelphia's Navy Yard.
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There will be lots of use for many years for fossil fuels probably even in the making of these solar panels. You can bet that a lot of oil companies will profit from these solar companies one way or another. In the finale all homes should be solar powered as well as cars and all types of machinery. To run cities we could make use of deserts for sunlight and silicon.
These unused portions of our planet would finally be used for the betterment of civilization. With so much of our suns energy that could easily be produced in mass amounts we could even start gardening parts of the deserts a little at a time. We might even see a few desert bloom like it talks about in the bible. I just hope Canada doesn't just wait and see what other countries are doing before they put their best foot forward. We all need to take that giant bull by the horns and thrash all the green energy out of it that we can. People it's truly our lives we will be saving to do all you can and if you think two years make it six months to a year cause we need it done yesterday. Good speed to all.