Following up on its commitment last spring to invest in American manufacturing, SunPower announced that it has completed its acquisition of certain assets of SolarWorld Americas, including its Hillsboro, Oregon facilities and its predominantly manufacturing workforce of more than 200 employees. SunPower has already begun to inject fresh capital into the factory as it executes plans to implement its leading-edge high efficiency P-Series solar panel manufacturing technology.
"This acquisition is an important step in helping to reshape solar manufacturing in America," said Tom Werner, SunPower CEO and chairman of the board. "With a dedicated and experienced Hillsboro workforce and our advanced P-Series solar panel manufacturing technology, invented and perfected in Silicon Valley, we'll be able to sell high-performance American-assembled panels to serve our strong U.S. market demand."
SunPower has already begun implementing its plans to move relevant equipment to Hillsboro and rapidly convert existing module capacity to manufacture 19 percent efficient P-Series technology. Product shipments are expected to begin by the first quarter of next year. During this transition, Hillsboro employees will continue to produce SolarWorld Americas product over the next several months before refocusing on manufacturing SunPower P-Series products.
The purchase price for the SolarWorld Americas assets was not disclosed.