More solar power

Evergreen Solar, the US manufacturer of solar power products, intends to significantly ramp up its manufacturing operations by building a new facility on the campus of the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MTC) in Westborough, MA.

The Company’s Board of Directors has approved the construction of the new $150 million facility that will increase Evergreen Solar’s production capacity in Massachusetts by 70 MW and double its employee base in the state to more than 600 employees.

Evergreen Solar currently operates its prototype production and manufacturing facility in Marlboro, MAs.

“Over the last three years, we have shown that our string ribbon technology is scalable as we have increased annual sales fourfold to approximately $100 million in 2006,” said Richard M. Feldt, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Evergreen Solar.

Construction of Evergreen Solar’s new facility is planned to begin in early autumn  with completion expected in late 2008.

Evergreen Solar has developed a patented crystalline silicon technology, known as String Ribbon, that, it claims, uses significantly less silicon than conventional approaches.

On the day of the site expansion, the company also announced that it had signed a multi-year polysilicon supply agreement with DC Chemical with shipments beginning in late 2008 and continuing through 2014.

Under the agreement, Evergreen Solar will receive sufficient polysilicon to manufacture a total of approximately 1 GW of photovoltaic solar modules through 2014.