Green Wombat

photo originally uploaded by misterken

Call it industrial recycling. PowerLight, the solar panel subsidiary of SunPower (SPWR), is moving its headquarters from Berkeley, California, to a historic Ford (F) manufacturing plant in the East Bay city of Richmond. An icon of early 20th century industrial design, the bayfront Ford factory once was the largest manufacturing facility on the West Coast, according to the federal government. The reason for leaving eco-conscious Berkeley? Space – business is booming and PowerLight is bursting out of its current HQ, a company spokeswoman told Green Wombat. PowerLight will occupy about 175,000 square feet of the Ford plant’s 520,000 square feet of space. The facility produced jeeps and other military vehicles during World War II and was considered a key cog in the war effort. And where once greenhouse-gas spewing cars rolled off the assembly line, the factory will now be enlisted in the fight against global warming, producing solar panels for homes and businesses.