MEMC Electronic Materials, Inc. (NYSE: WFR) announced Monday it is partnering with Singapore’s Flextronics (Nasdaq: FLEX) to produce solar photovoltaic (PV) panels at an existing facility in Newmarket, Ontario.
The move expands the vertical integration of MEMC, which makes solar wafers and owns project developer SunEdison.
Scheduled to begin production during 2Q11, Flextronics will produce MEMC branded solar panels that will be used by SunEdison for its solar PV projects. This will enable SunEdison and its project partners to exceed the 60% domestic content requirement of Ontario’s Feed-in Tariff Program (FIT).
Production of the solar panels is expected to result in more than 100 new solar jobs for the province.
Jason Gray, Vice President and Country Manager, SunEdison, said the initiative will provide an initial 50 megawatts (MW) of annual panel capacity that will have the potential to scale to 200 MW.
This announcement follows SunEdison’s previously announced plans to produce solar racking equipment with Samco Solar, a division of Samco Machinery Ltd. based in Scarborough, Ontario.
Flextronics, which manufacturers all types of electronics, has recently made a strong move into solar, securing contracts from heavyweights SunPower (Nasdaq: SPWRA) (in California) and Q-Cells (QCE.DE) (in Malyasia), as well as upstart Petra Solar.
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