New SunPower Oregon Facility Is Now Producing 19% Efficient Solar Panels

February 8th, 2019 by Joshua S Hill

Silicon Valley-based solar manufacturer SunPower has finally returned to manufacturing in the United States as it announced on Thursday its newly-acquired Hillsboro, Oregon facility is now assembling the company’s high-quality 19% efficient Performance Series solar panel (P19 or P-Series) for US commercial customers.

SunPower’s return to manufacturing in the United States is a long one and involves the much ballyhooed Section 201 trade case of 2017 which led to the imposition of a 30% tariff on imported solar cells and modules, the bankruptcy of one of the original filing companies in the case, SolarWorld Americas, and the acquisition of certain assets of SolarWorld Americas — including the company’s facilities in Hillsboro, Oregon, which includes one of the largest solar manufacturing facilities in North America. SunPower saw the acquisition as an avenue “to revitalize the US high-technology manufacturing sector” by injecting “fresh capital into the SolarWorld Americas facility and implement 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 in October. “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.”

Only four months after SunPower concluded the acquisition of certain assets belonging to SolarWorld Americas, SunPower announced on Thursday that it is now assembling its high-quality 19% efficient Performance Series solar panel (P19 or P-Series) at the Hillsboro factory and that it will begin fulfilling commercial customer orders and shipping P19 solar panels from Oregon in the coming weeks.

“Today we celebrate the revival of American solar panel manufacturing as SunPower’s high-quality P19 product starts coming off the line in Oregon,” said Tom Werner on Thursday. “Now that we’re in full production, we look forward to meeting our strong U.S. commercial market demand with these high-performance American-assembled panels.”

“As a leading solar technology and energy services provider, we pride ourselves on offering the industry’s most efficient solar panels available today that we design, engineer and manufacture ourselves,” Werner continued. “With strong U.S. solar demand expected to continue, we are committed to offering our customers the option to buy industry-leading SunPower solar panels assembled right here at home.”

SunPower highlighted “Several high-ranking Fortune 500 companies, an auto dealer in Texas, and a church in Missouri” as just some of the new customers who will benefit from US-made SunPower solar panels in the coming weeks, as the company solidifies its position as the leading commercial solar provider in the country.











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