ARIZONA’S SOLAR COMPANIES ARE THRIVING
The constant influx of businesses and residents to Arizona is due, in part, to its business-friendly attitude, quality of life and spectacular geography. But it’s the ongoing successes of major employers, fueled by Arizona’s pro-business initiatives, strong industry-education relationships, specialized workforce and innovative technologies that have made it an optimum environment for key industries such as aerospace and defense, environmental technologies and manufacturing.
Currently the second fastest growing state in the nation according to the U.S. Census, Arizona’s solar industry is booming as well.
Arizona’s Solar Companies
New Developments on the Horizon
Arizona’s Solar Companies
Arizona’s solar industry has seen tremendous growth, attracting world-class businesses throughout the state. In 2010, Arizona was ranked No. 1 on two of Business Facilities annual state rankings top 10 lists – Alternative Energy Industry Leaders and Solar Energy Manufacturing Leader – a testament to Arizona’s prosperous solar companies.
Arizona is now home to the world’s largest solar plant, the U.S. military’s largest solar plant and the world’s premier photovoltaic testing laboratory – as well as more than 100 businesses in the solar energy field.
Here is a partial list from Arizona’s growing team of solar companies.
ESTABLISHED ARIZONA SOLAR BUSINESSES
- Faist Greentek is a U.K.-based metal fabricator that opened a 56,000-square-foot manufacturing plant in Phoenix to support the Power-One manufacturing efforts. The plant employs 125 to 150 people.
- First Solar, headquartered in Tempe, Ariz., is the world’s leading manufacturer of thin-film solar modules and is currently building a $300 million, 600-employee solar-powered factory in Mesa, Ariz., that will produce an annual total generating capacity of 250 million watts of electricity. Fluidic Energy is commercializing a revolutionary energy storage technology developed at ASU and will build a manufacturing facility in Maricopa County.
- Gestamp Solar Steel has a new manufacturing facility that will build steel structures for utility-scale, concentrated solar generation stations in its new 75,000-square-foot facility in Surprise, Ariz. The facility will house a steel fabrication factory and the U.S. headquarters for Gestamp, employing approximately 50 people.
- Global Solar, Inc. , which employs approximately 150 employees in its Tucson, Ariz., plant, is the leading manufacturer of highly efficient thin-film solar cells on a flexible substrate. The company recently launched a revolutionary new product – PowerFlex BIPV modules, which are essentially stick-on solar panels – that can be adhered directly onto a roof or built into roofing materials, eliminating the high costs associated with current installation requirements.
- Power-One Inc., a California-based solar and wind inverter manufacturer, opened a 120,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Phoenix (its first in North America), citing Arizona’s strong workforce and the intellectual resources of ASU as reasons for choosing Arizona for its U.S. manufacturing base. Employing hundreds of Arizonans, Power-One’s main suppliers are also expected to relocate to the Valley.
- Rioglass Solar, a Spanish company, is completing a glass reflector manufacturing plant in Surprise, Ariz., which supplies tempered-glass reflectors concentrated solar power (CSP) units.
- Schletter Inc. is a German-based company that built its first U.S.-based operation center in Tucson, Ariz., in 2008, after looking at cities across Arizona, Colorado and California. Schletter manufactures solar mounting systems for small- to utility-scale generating stations.
- Solon Corp. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of SOLON SE located in Tucson, Arizona, provides intelligent system solutions for solar power plants in North America.
- Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd., the world’s largest producer of solar panels, opened its first U.S. manufacturing plant in Goodyear, Ariz., with an initial 30 megawatts of annual capacity. The China-based company employs more than 75 operators, engineers and professionals in its Goodyear facility; a number that is expected to double by the end of 2011. After a two-year search, Suntech says it chose Goodyear based on “costs, logistics and statewide renewable energy policies, as well as a supportive local business climate.”
- TÜV Rheinland of Germany built its photovoltaic testing laboratory in Arizona, upgrading the technology and more than doubling the capacity of the former ASU photovoltaic lab. The new lab provides a unique one-stop source for clients to get full testing and certification for all safety and performance standards in use by the industry anywhere in the world.
NEW SOLAR DEVELOPMENTS ON THE HORIZON
- Abengoa Solar is building a 280-megawatt CSP plant (Solana) in Gila Bend, Ariz., which will generate enough energy to power 70,000 homes. The Solana generating station will create 1,500 construction jobs and when completed in 2013, it will employ 85 highly skilled technicians. The plant will also be the first large-scale solar plant in the nation to store the energy it generates for later use, enabling it to provide power at night and during cloudy weather.
- APS/Luke Air Force Base Photovoltaic is scheduled for completion soon and, with 52,000 high-efficiency SunPower solar panels generating 15 megawatts across 100 acres of underutilized land on the base, it will be the largest solar installation on U.S. government property.
- Enviromission, Inc. is planning a 200-megawatt, 2,400-foot solar-tower generating station in La Paz County to export to Southern California.
- Sempra Energy will build its Mesquite Solar Complex in Arlington on former agricultural land near existing transmission lines, commissioning Suntech Power to provide its solar modules, some of which will be produced at its Goodyear facility. At full build-out, the site could grow to 600 megawatts, becoming one of North America’s largest photovoltaic solar generation plants. Phase one will generate 150 megawatts with a capital investment estimated at $500 million, with an estimated completion date of 2012.
- The Solar Zone, located on 250 acres in the heart of the University of Arizona’s Science and Technology Park, was designed to enable utilities and developers to evaluate solar technologies side-by-side to determine the most efficient and economical systems. Supported by Tucson Electric Power, six projects by various solar companies are currently in the works and, upon their completion in 2012, The Solar Zone will become the largest multi-technology solar demonstration site in the U.S.
