$4 M Canadian solar manufacturing investment

A Michigan solar panel manufacturer is the latest US company to announce a multi-million dollar manufacturing investment in Ontario.

The company is one of many in the past two years that have invested in the province to comply with the government’s Green Energy Act and feed-in tariff program requirement for made-in-Ontario domestic content.

United Solar, Auburn Hills, MI, plans to establish a 7,000 sq m manufacturing facility in LaSalle, ON, slated for an August 2011 start-up. The facility is under lease to the company for 10 years. United Solar plans to hire up to 80 people for the facility. The total investment for an upgrade to an existing facility and capital equipment purchases is US$4 million.

The company plans to manufacture a proprietary thin-film solar laminate product based on its “triple junction” technology.

The plant will have an initial annualized capacity of 15 megawatts (equal to providing solar power to 4,000 homes with a carbon offset of more than 5000 tonnes per year), but will have the ability to ramp up to 30 megawatts with higher market demand.

“United Solar is proud to be expanding our base of manufacturing to Ontario and to be part of the growth of the Windsor-Essex region,” says Mark Morelli, president and CEO of ECD (Energy Conservation Devices), United Solar’s parent company. “We are grateful for the assistance of the Windsor-Essex Economic Development Corp. and the government of the Province of Ontario in our decision to build out this facility. We believe in the potential for solar energy in Ontario and look forward to many years of success in this market.”

United Solar has applied for training grants from the Ontario government to assist with the ramp up of the facility. The company is also expecting to receive support under the Ontario Works Program and from the Apprenticeship Training tax credit, designed to encourage job growth in the province.