PHOTON International The Photovoltaic Magazine

Kyocera to start module production just south of California border

Kyocera, the world's second-largest solar cell manufacturer, is planning to start module assembly at a semiconductor component factory it owns in Tijuana, Mexico – a few kilometers south of San Diego and the California border.

	© Kyocera Solar, Inc.
Buenos dias, PV: Kyocera plans to start module assembly in an unused section of its semiconductor component factory in Tijuana.

Steve C. Hill, president of Kyocera Solar Inc., the company's Arizona-based US headquarters, says the equipment, enough for 35 MW of capacity, should be in place by October.

The facility will eventually produce all of the PV modules that Kyocera sells in the Americas. Most of the product is currently intended for the US market, mainly in California. »Some people in San Diego see Tijuana as an outreach of manufacturing operations in the San Diego region,« says Hill, a model Kyocera has used with its semiconductor operations. One of the reasons Kyocera decided to start production at the factory was due to the pro-solar position of California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (see article, p. 38).

Hill adds that if the PV market in the US grows, Kyocera expects to build up capacity beyond the current level. He declined to say how Kyocera plans to ramp up production of its modules, which will range from 35 to 190 W.