GE To Build Largest Solar Panel Factory In U.S.

NEW YORK -- General Electric says it's going to build the nation's largest solar panel factory, part of a $600 million dollar bet on the future of solar power in the United States.

The new plant will employ 400 people and produce enough solar panels to power 80,000 homes per year, GE said Thursday. The company isn't saying where the plant will be located, but it does say that there are multiple locations being scouted. .

GE says its thin film solar panel has been certified as the most energy efficient of its kind by the National Renewable Energy Lab in Colorado. The technology for the panel, called CdTe thin film, lends itself to low-cost, large-scale manufacturing.

GE recently acquired PrimeStar Solar Inc. a maker of thin film solar panels based in Colorado.

Comments

[rodoner]

08:15 AM on 05/22/2011

Sounds good.....What's the price? Large scale production is the only way to make it worth while.....

[vetxcl]

04:23 PM on 05/10/2011

This article is very brief and gives limited details. Here's more information: http://cleantechnica.com/2011/04/11/ge-invests-600-million-into-manufacturing-solar-pv-breakthrough-technology-most-efficient-solar-cell-on-market/

[BannedNBoston]

04:01 PM on 05/05/2011

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[b525]

09:28 AM on 04/24/2011

I'm not sure why we are building so many bulky solar PANELS when there is now lightweight solar SHINGLES which can cover homes and look no different than regular rooftop shingles.

A home rooftop covered with these easy to install solar shingles can power, heat and cool an entire house and charge an electric car(s) with power to spare. Many people are already doing this.

If we all covered our homes with rooftop shingles it would eliminate our need for natural gas, coal, nuclear power, fisheries killing hydro-power and eliminate our dependence on foreign oil/gasoline.

A rooftop solar powered electric car is 2000 times more efficient than a gasoline powered car.

Our rooftops are already absorbing solar heat, why not use this solar energy to power our homes and cars instead of covering pristine desert areas with solar panels?

Type "solar shingles" into your search engine.

[tangelan]

02:34 PM on 04/16/2011

Hopefully, they will also be exporting panels.

[Linda P]

11:39 AM on 04/16/2011

Solar Energy technology has been available for decades, also wind powered. Although I am delighted that it is finally going to be implemented, I realize also that is only because the powers that be have determined that they have waited out the oil situation and now are prepared to make the shift which should and could have been made decades ago. On a recent road trip last summer through Eastern Washington State, Montana, and Idaho, we observed thousands of windmills in countless windmill "farms" standing still, when these could have been producing electricity... I recently (this week) read a locally )Washington State) written article that explained that we are not activating these windmills because we have "too much electricity", and that is why they are not being used presently. The fact that GE is making a huge shift to solar should tell us something... multinationals act in their own best interests to maximize profits while they actively use up non-renewable resources and raising the prices for maximum profits First, and by suppressing other technology by keeping it on the back-burner

[tomteboda]

06:13 AM on 04/24/2011

It would behoove you to go to a nonbiased source and read about the development of solar energy technology. You will no doubt be surprised that there have been many challenges to development of materials suitable for mass and micro solar energy production, and that it has depended on advances in many fields. The idea that this is all some political / corporate plot to deprive the world of "clean" energy is nonsense.

[Linda P]

11:58 AM on 04/24/2011

In 1980, a Physics Professor at Everett Community College bought and installed on his roof, commercially manufactured solar panels sufficient to run his entire house off the grid. In 1979 my brother installed a solar heater to heat his swimming pool. He's still using that same one. My comment stated that we've had this technology for decades, let's see ... that's about 4 decades..... my father worked on designs for the space missions in the 60s, he helped put the first men on the moon... the technology existed ... so now you can add two more decades to the above... Perhaps oral history from people who were there and experienced it is more accurate than the "media" you are depending on... and, sadly, soon we will be gone, and no longer able to pass on the real truth

[capeman2]

12:30 AM on 04/14/2011

Weeeeeee! No taxes paid = green energy jobs!

[spqesq]

11:15 AM on 04/11/2011

Half-measure yields fractional output. This is like putting out a forest fire with a garden hose.

Stop nuclear and fossil fuel subsidies. All in. All together. We can do this. Wind. Solar. Geothermal. Let's go! No more excuses. No more arguments. Get. it. done.

[Linda P]

11:44 AM on 04/16/2011

They COULD have done this decades ago, however technology was supress in the interest of raising the prices on unrenewable energy (oil) to the point of serious decline ... this was done to maximize profits ... the move by GE to solar is a signal that oil resources have become so depleted that they MUST now make this shift ... and while this is being implemented, the last and most profit taking is also being implemented via the swiftly rising price per barrel of oil on the stock market

[Warren Lauzon]

05:12 PM on 04/23/2011

Probably suppressed by the same folks that suppressed the 200 MPG carburetor.

[tomteboda]

06:14 AM on 04/24/2011

Do you believe in perpetual motion machines, too?

[Kenz300]

07:18 PM on 04/10/2011

Good -- they can get out of the nuclear energy business.

Nuclear is too costly and too dangerous. We all need clean air, clean water and safe food to eat.
The nuclear disaster in Japan is poisoning all three.

It is time to transition to safe, clean alternative energy. Wind, solar, wave energy, geothermal, hydro and second generation biofuels made from algae, waste and cellulose are the future.

I wonder if GE has any liability for the problems in Japan? Those are GE reactors.

[brt 177]

06:37 PM on 04/10/2011

I feel like it's the least they can do since we gave them $3 billion dollars.

[Bobby Dias]

07:43 PM on 04/10/2011

AND they paid it back, with interest!

[tangelan]

02:09 PM on 04/16/2011

When? You're not talking about the hoax, are you?

[luminavi]

03:21 PM on 04/10/2011

Not saying where they're building it?

Oh dear ... kind of reminds me of that whole Solyndra fiasco. Half a billion in government funds later, the whole thing moves to China.

[tosc]

08:40 AM on 04/10/2011

their not buildig it....taxes from the american people are paying for the installation by way of multimillion dollar grants and tax credits extended by our "friends" in washington. Anytime a corporation makes a decision with this much intensity.....they are getting some money for it!

[Anne Mccormick]

08:42 PM on 04/10/2011

of course they are. but on the plus side they will hire 400 people

[Warren Lauzon]

05:13 PM on 04/23/2011

So for $3 billion of our tax money, we get 400 jobs?

Don't you see a disconnect from common sense there?

[rodjard]

02:11 AM on 04/10/2011

DRIP DRIP DRIP DRIP

C-MON TURN ON THE
FAUCET AND GET THIS DONE.

[Deep Thinking Man]

09:04 PM on 04/09/2011

TresJolie7,
best comment i've ever heard...ROTFLMAO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[chouteau47]

08:25 PM on 04/09/2011

When a commercial or residential building utilizes products that are manufactured near the construction site it improves the overall LEED score. Solar panels made in the US and not China might make the difference on if the building is LEED Gold, LEED Silver, ect...The majority of new construction (schools, government facilities...) are required to be LEED certified. Its good for this country and environment to build this factory and alot better use of tax money not given to DC (see Afganistan).