2006/06/21: MontereyHerald: Major step for solar power -
U.S. to host world's largest factory for sun-energy cells
A Palo Alto, Calif. company has decided to build the world's largest factory
for making solar power cells in the San Francisco Bay Area -- a move that
would nearly triple the nation's solar manufacturing capacity and give a
significant boost to a growing source of clean energy.
Nanosolar, a privately held company founded in 2001 with seed money from
Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, plans to make the announcement
today, and in the next two to six weeks will select San Jose, Santa Clara
or San Francisco as the site.
At capacity, the factory could turn out enough solar cells each year to
generate 430 megawatts of electricity, said Nanosolar CEO Martin Roscheisen.
That's enough to power about 325,000 homes.
Backers of solar power said the project is the latest example of how demand
for solar energy is rapidly expanding, and how the technology, once the realm
of hippies and back-to-the-land advocates, has become a hot commodity among
some of the same Silicon Valley engineers and venture capitalists who made
a fortune in the 1990s Internet boom.
"This is a spectacular announcement," said Rhone Resch, president of the
Solar Energy Industries Association, in Washington, D.C. "This is a very
important step for us to address the energy crisis we face in this country.
We cannot drill our way out or mine our way out, but we can manufacture
our way out."
[...]
<http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/news/nation/14868789.htm>
See also:
2006/06/21: SF Gate: Largest solar cell plant to be built in Bay Area
<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/06/21/BUG9VJHBLB1.DTL&type=printable>
<regards>
-het
--
"The seeds of great discoveries are constantly floating around us,
but they only take root in minds well prepared to receive them."
-Joseph Henry
Energy Alternatives: http://www.autobahn.mb.ca/~het/energy/energy.html
H.E. Taylor http://www.autobahn.mb.ca/~het/
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