Suniva, Inc., a U.S. manufacturer of monocrystalline silicon solar cells and modules, today announced that the company has been selected for the U.S. Department of Energy Loan Guarantee Program under the DOE’s Innovative Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy and Advanced Transmission and Distribution Technologies Solicitation.
Upon the completion of the DOE’s due diligence and subject to the successful negotiation of the terms of a loan for approximately $141 million, Suniva plans to start the construction of a new manufacturing plant in Saginaw County, Michigan.
Building such a manufacturing plant could create approximately 500 direct solar jobs at Suniva, while creating an additional 2,000 indirect jobs for the Michigan economy according to the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.
“The loan guarantee is essential to our efforts in building a second manufacturing plant in Michigan as quickly as possible, creating new cleantech jobs for Americans and supporting the economy by substantially increasing the number of solar cells and modules available for export,” said John Baumstark, chairman and chief executive officer of Suniva.
Suniva said the loan guarantee will enable it to more than triple exports over the next five years. Last year, Suniva exported more than 90% of its products to Asia and Europe.
Based in Norcross, GA, Suniva leverages exclusive licenses to intellectual property developed by Suniva founder and CTO, Dr. Ajeet Rohatgi, at the Georgia Institute of Technology’s University Center of Excellence for Photovoltaic Research. The company was Ranked #2 in The Wall Street Journal’s Top 10 Venture-Backed Clean Technology Companies in 2010. Suniva is also the 2010 recipient of the Renewable Energy Exporter of the Year, awarded by the Export-Import Bank of the United States.
In January, Suniva announced it will collaborate with GS Battery, Inc. to develop solar powered energy storage systems.
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