Chinese solar firm here?


Giant manufacturer Suntech would make solar panels.

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The solar giant’s manufacturing would “fill a hole in the state’s renewable-energy industry.”

Oregon already has companies that make solar silicon, wafers and cells. Suntech’s factory, wherever it lands, would slice wafers into cells for panels, the modules installed on roofs to collect solar energy.

“Oregon’s definitely on the list,” said Steve Chadima, Suntech Power Holdings Co. vice president of external affairs in Suntech’s U.S. branch. “There’s maybe at most half a dozen places that are on the list. Your folks have been very assertive in a very positive way.”

The company could remodel the former Hynix semiconductor factory in Eugene. But Chadima, a former Portland resident based in California, said Eugene’s air and sea links might not be sufficient.

Read the full story in The Oregonian.