[RE-wrenches] FW: Suntech Selects Arizona for First U.S. Manufacturing Plant

Mon Nov 16 08:27:14 PST 2009

Moving manufacturing from China to Arizona - who woulda' thunk it?!?!

The question is, will customers see them as American modules.  Toyota has
done a decent job of marketing their cars as American made...

Andrew Truitt

Standard Solar Inc.

Suntech Selects Arizona for First U.S. Manufacturing Plant

Solar Leader Brings Green Manufacturing Jobs from China to the United States

    BEIJING, Nov. 15 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- From the U.S. China Green Tech
Summit today, Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. (NYSE: STP), announced that
its first U.S. manufacturing plant for the growing North American market
would be located in the Greater Phoenix, Arizona area.  The plant will have
an initial production capacity of 30 megawatts (MW) and is expected to begin
production in the third quarter of 2010.

    The announcement makes Suntech the first Chinese cleantech leader to
bring manufacturing jobs to America.  Suntech selected the Greater Phoenix
area for its plant because of Arizona's leadership in research through
Arizona State University, and statewide renewable energy policies,
particularly its Renewable Energy Standard and distributed generation
set-aside, as well as a supportive local business climate represented by the
Greater Phoenix Economic Council.  The Suntech U.S. plant will employ over
75 full-time employees at launch and may double its staff within the year as
the North American market develops.

    Initially starting with 30 MW of PV module production capacity, the
Suntech plant is configured for growth to respond to the expected expansion
of the U.S. solar market in the coming years.  The U.S. market had 356MW of
solar PV capacity installed during 2008 (source: Photon Magazine, Nov.
2009), and is expected to grow six-fold to more than 2GW by 2012 (source:
Solarbuzz LLC, Mar. 2009).

    "Bringing manufacturing jobs to the U.S. is part of Suntech's vision to
grow the solar market in every corner of the world," said Suntech's Chairman
and CEO Dr. Zhengrong Shi.  "We are eagerly watching growing markets and see
the potential of bringing manufacturing capabilities to other markets where
we see the combination of rapid local market growth and manufacturing cost
competitiveness."

    Locating the plant close to Suntech's U.S. customers will reduce the
time, costs, and emissions associated with long-distance shipping of Suntech
panels. The plant, which will be approximately 80,000 to 100,000 square
feet, will allow for long-term growth of manufacturing capabilities to meet
increasing American demand for solar power.

    "Suntech has been a leader to watch for some time, and its decision to
bring manufacturing here to the U.S. is a great sign of the increasingly
important collaboration between Chinese and American leaders in the
renewable energy industry, as well as the potential for growth of green jobs
in countries that implement smart, supportive policies," said Dan Kammen,
Professor in the Energy and Resources Group and Director of the Renewable
and Appropriate Energy Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley.

    Dr. Shi continued, "This is the first step in what I see as a long-term,
strategic investment in the North American market.  Over the last two years
we have grown our U.S. team to over 60 employees. As a result of that
effort, we have developed a network of over 200 solar dealers and
integrators installing Suntech products and are actively involved with a
number of large-scale solar project developers serving the utility market.
We also have developed strong partnerships with U.S. companies such as MEMC
of Pasadena, Texas, our largest supplier of silicon wafers used in our
modules.  The leadership shown by the US government in advancing renewable
energy will only improve the environment for further investments in the
coming years."

    Suntech plans to make a final decision on the specific location of the
plant in the coming weeks.

    About Suntech

    Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. (NYSE: STP) is the world's leading
solar energy company as measured by production output of crystalline silicon
solar modules. Suntech designs, develops, manufactures, and markets premium
quality, high-output, cost-effective and environmentally friendly solar
products for electric power applications in the residential, commercial,
industrial, and public utility sectors.  Suntech offers an extensive range
of customer-centric innovations, including its patent-pending Pluto
technology for crystalline silicon solar cells, which improves power output
by up to 12% compared to conventional production methods, its Reliathon(TM)
module and platform, the industry's first fully integrated utility-scale
solar platform, and its broad range of building-integrated solar products.

    Suntech designs and delivers commercial and utility scale solar power
systems in China and the United States.  With regional headquarters in
China, Switzerland and San Francisco and sales offices worldwide, Suntech is
passionate about improving the environment we live in and dedicated to
developing advanced solar solutions that enable sustainable development.
For more information, please visit
http://www.suntech-power.com<http://globalmessaging2.prnewswire.com/clickthrough/servlet/clickthrough?msg_id=6440862&adr_order=280&url=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5zdW50ZWNoLXBvd2VyLmNvbQ%3D%3D>.

    Safe Harbor Statement

    This press release contains forward-looking statements.  These
statements constitute "forward-looking" statements within the meaning of
Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of
the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and as defined in the U.S.
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking
statements can be identified by terminology such as "will," "expects,"
"anticipates," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates" and
similar statements, and includes the expected growth of the U.S. solar
market, timing of the opening of Suntech's Phoenix, Arizona manufacturing
plant; the number of expected employees at time of opening of the plant;
forecasted production output, forecasted employee growth, and growth of
manufacturing capacity. Such statements involve certain risks and
uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from
those in the forward-looking statements. Further information regarding these
and other risks is included in Suntech's filings with the U.S. Securities
and Exchange Commission, including its annual report on Form 20-F.  Suntech
does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement as
a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required
under applicable law.

    For more information, please contact:

    In the United States:

     Sarahjane Sacchetti

     Story Labs for Suntech America

     Tel:   +1-415-268-8881

     Email: ssacchetti at suntechamerica.com

    In China:

     Rory Macpherson

     Investor Relations Director

     Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd.

     Tel:   +86-21-6288-5574

     Email: rory at suntech-power.com

SOURCE  Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd.

    -0-            11/15/2009

    /CONTACT:  In the United States, Sarahjane Sacchetti of Story Labs for
Suntech America, +1-415-268-8881, or ssacchetti at suntechamerica.com; or in
China, Rory Macpherson, Investor Relations Director of Suntech Power
Holdings Co., Ltd., +86-21-6288-5574, or rory at suntech-power.com /

    /Web Site:
http://www.suntech-power.com<http://globalmessaging2.prnewswire.com/clickthrough/servlet/clickthrough?msg_id=6440862&adr_order=280&url=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5zdW50ZWNoLXBvd2VyLmNvbQ%3D%3D>/

    (STP)

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