The City of Roses could soon produce silicon wafers for the growing solar energy industry. Solaicx, a Santa Clara, Calif.-based manufacturer of silicon wafers used to make photovoltaic panels, in June announced plans to open a 136,000 square-foot, high-volume manufacturing facility in Portland. The facility, Solaicx’s first high-volume manufacturing plant, would be funded by a recent $27.1 million investment round that includes investments from D.E. Shaw, Mitsui Ventures, Applied Ventures, Firsthand Capital Management, Big Sky Ventures and Greenhouse Capital Partners.

“We looked at the state of Oregon's generous financial incentives for renewable energy and Portland's deep base of skilled labor in silicon manufacturing, and decided that the port is an ideal place for our continued growth as a company,” says Jeff Jones, vice president of manufacturing for Solaicx.

Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski recently signed into law Senate Bill 838, the Oregon Renewable Energy Act. The bill, which passed both the state House and Senate with bipartisan support [see "Oregon House favors landmark bill," nwcurrent, June 2007], requires Oregon’s largest utilities to obtain 25 percent of their electricity from renewable energy sources by 2025.

Solaicx is the second solar energy company this year to plot a major manufacturing facility in Oregon. German manufacturer SolarWorld Group announced its intention in March 2007 to open a manufacturing facility in Hillsboro, Ore. [see "SolarWorld lands in Oregon," nwcurrent, May 2007]. SolarWorld also cited the availability of highly skilled technology workers and state incentives for renewable energy and cleantech companies as contributing factors to its decision to settle in Oregon. When fully operational, the Hillsboro plant would become the largest solar panel manufacturing facility in the United States.