photos: Energy Conversion Devices
As Detroit automakers shutter SUV and truck factories, the decades-long de-industrialization of the Midwest continues apace. But amid the idled assembly lines, a new wave of manufacturing has taken root as solar energy companies set up shop in the heartland.
Just in the past week, First Solar (FSLR) announced an expansion of its Ohio plant that makes thin-film solar panels. German company Flabeg will break ground on a factory outside Pittsburgh that will manufacture parabolic solar mirrors for large-scale solar power plants planned for the Southwest. Thin-film solar company Energy Conversion Devices (ENER), meanwhile, operates three factories in Michigan and is currently doubling the production capacity of one of its plants.
In fact, nearly all the United States’ current solar manufacturing capacity is in the Midwest, save for Silicon Valley company Ausra’s factory in Las Vegas. (Thin-film startup Nanosolar is building a factory in San Jose, Calif.)
“Our processes really require high productivity, so what makes it competitive here in the Midwest is that we have a great labor force that is eager to work and well-trained already,” ECD chief executive Mark Morelli told Green Wombat on Monday.
For instance, when appliance maker Electrolux shut down its Greenville, Mich., factory it left 2,700 workers unemployed in the same town where ECD is expanding its thin-film factory (see photos). The company also has recruited top executives from the ever-shrinking auto industry.
“We do a test of the available labor pool and hire the cream of the crop,” Morelli says.
Just as important are a plethora of state tax breaks and grants to retrain industrial workers for the green tech economy.
Although 70 percent of ECD’s flexible solar laminate panels are sold to European customers, Morelli anticipates the U.S. market will take off, with domestic manufacturers garnering a competitive advantage.
That all depends on whether Congress extends a crucial investment tax credit that expires this year and the policies of the next administration in Washington. Even so, demand for solar cells is expected to spike, especially given the recent unveiling of Big Solar projects by California utilities. Southern California Edison (EIX), for instance, is installing 250-megawatts’ worth of solar panels on commercial rooftops while PG&E (PCG) this month announced contracts to buy 800 megawatts of electricity from two photovoltaic power plants, including 500-megawatt thin-film solar farm being built by OptiSolar.
“As utilities begin to embrace distributed power generation, these type of things play into our natural advantage,” says Morelli, referring to his company’s lightweight solar panels that are especially suited for large rooftop arrays.
Of course, a handful of solar factories are not going to revive the Midwest’s industrial fortunes. (First Solar, for instance, operates factories in Germany and Malaysia, and Morelli doesn’t rule out locating manufacturing overseas.) But imagine a national policy that promotes the wide adoption of solar and the expansion of manufacturing in the rustbelt states becomes increasingly attractive. Shipping solar panels and mirror arrays from halfway around the world starts to make much less environmental and financial sense.
ECD’s proximity to the auto industry has already paid off. After installing solar arrays on two of General Motors (GM)’s California facilities, it won a contract in July to build a 12-megawatt rooftop array – the world’s largest by orders of magnitude – at a GM assembly plant in Spain.
Green Wombat 
EPV manufactures in New Jersey. Evergreen in Mass.
Future: Heliovolt in Texas. Ascent in Colorado
The failure of the tax credits to be extended is costing jobs.
NYSERDA just ran out of solar rebates. Regional SREC markets would help.
This is good to know. Production is really ramping up.
Given the production of solar panels is only now a fraction of what it will be, chronically underemployed areas like Kentucky, West Virginia, and Wyoming should angle to land as many of these new factories as possible through any means necessary. Strike at mountain-top removal strip coal mining in it’s heartland.
Stop coal in China, India, France, and Germany too. China now produces more greenhouse gases than the entire North America continent. That is, the USA, Canada, Mexico, and a raft of smaller countries combined!
If the factories want to motivate their workers to produce quality and quantity then as a fringe benefit that employees that work 5 years get enough donated solar panels to outfit their home. They can receive them after working for the company for 2 years but if they leave before 5 years they must pay back the prorated portion. Show commitment.
too bad congress won’t extend the tax breaks and the jobs will leave. Gotta love our reps.
Why on Earth would they ever hire any executives from the US auto industry? These are the same people that got the big 3 into the mess they are in now. The only job that an executive from the American auto industry should be doing after the disaster that is that industry is bagging my groceries at the local Kroger Food.
US should develop clean technology as it is the super power or atleast all the developed countries should work and get some clean technology. Until then China and India will never stop using Coal. Just like AlGore said.
Dreamdeceiver…China, with 1.3B people, has probably twice the population of the entire American continent that you speak of. That means per capita, they are still producing 1/2 the pollution footprint than you or I. Although it is true China needs to be more mindful of its energy usage (I believe they are starting to move toward that direction), we here in the US needs to stop calling the kettle black, and think about what the lavish lifestyles we’ve all become so accustomed to, is doing to the world.
Dave: agree with you 100%.
AT: over 1B of those Chinese live in huts or thrid world conditions (no water, sewer, etc.). So, to compare their emissions footprint to ours is not logical. Wait until they have the same standard of living and GDP output per $ of energy used, then come talk to me about their emissions footprint. You can’t generate a “footprint” when you have no car, no electricity, no life.
Seeing solar companies gaining a presence in Midwestern industrial plants is a step in a very positive direction, and a direct result of the innovation that is possible in energy distribution given the right business model and incentives. The datacenter community is even looking more to solar power to help reduce energy-related costs or avoid being constrained by utility power pricing or availability (http://earth2tech.com/2008/07/25/data-centers-will-follow-the-sun-and-chase-the-wind/) Of course, the incorporation of renewable energy such as solar as main sources of power underscores a huge source of inefficiency that our country has when it comes to power distribution – AC to DC conversions. You see, while power is transmitted long distances in AC, it must be converted to DC power to make an electronic device work. In a typical datacenter, there are 5-7 power conversions (AC to DC) and transformations (higher voltage to lower voltage) from the utility to the point of use powering the IT equipment, with each conversion or transformation resulting in energy losses in the form of heat (which must be cooled). Solar panels (as well as fuel cells, and other renewable and alternative energy sources) naturally produce DC electricity, but when put to use (such as powering servers in a datacenter), fall victim to DC to AC to DC conversions. DC power distribution has massive implications for improving the country’s overall energy-efficiency, especially in datacenters: http://www.validusdc.com
Being from NW Ohio, I think that it is wonderful to see a different industry growing. First Solar’s plant is just a few miles from where I grew up.
Dave- I must politely disagree. I believe the plight of the Big 3 has much more to do with the strong-arming by the UAW 30 years ago. When you have to pay your janitors $30/hour… you can’t compete with union-free companies like Honda.