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Uni-Solar Ovonics has received permission from local authorities to accelerate its expansion plans at its Greenville, MI, campus, according to a story in the May 29 edition of the regional Daily News paper. The city council approved an amendment to the original deal that results in a near-doubling of the incentive package for the amorphous-silicon thin-film manufacturer, to more than $20 million, in line with the company's plans to double its production capacity there.

The PV firm's is expanding its new plants in Greenville and has increased the number of lines in each fab from two to four; at 30-MW per line, that means Uni-Solar will have a nameplate capacity of 240 MW in place once completed. The company's Website still lists each fab with a 60-MW capacity (for a total of 120 MW) and has stuck with that figure in other announcements, so the larger capacity figure has yet to be confirmed. If accurate, the expansion would bring Uni-Solar's installed capacity to 298 MW by the end of 2008.

The Daily News reports that the two plants will undergo construction simultaneously, with the expansion of the first building's foundation going down in August, most of the structure built out in September, and the roof put in and equipment installed in October--all while production continues on the first line that ramped in November 2007. The second building's construction schedule will be about two months' ahead of the first fab's build-out, with the foundation poured in June, most of the main building work completed in July, and the roof and first tools coming in July, according to the story. Once operational, the two plants will employ 800 workers.


Solar Integrated's BIPV using Uni-Solar a-Si flex laminates.
(Photo courtesy: Solar Integrated)

Much of the added capacity will go to Solar Integrated Technologies, which announced an updated agreement with Uni-Solar earlier this month. The Michigan company will supply its flexible TF a-Si products to the Los Angeles-based manufacturer, designer, and installer of building-integrated PV roofing systems as part of a deal that "expands the scope and supply of Uni-Solar photovoltaic laminates significantly beyond [the originally agreed] 100 MW and extends the term through December 31, 2012, on a 'take or pay' basis."

Mark Morelli, who took over as CEO of Uni-Solar's parent company, Energy Conversion Devices, in September, was also profiled in another local Michigan media outlet Thursday--the Oakland (MI) Business Review on the mlive.com site. Here are some excerpts:

Lessons learned in areas of manufacturing process and design improvements from Uni-Solar's two Auburn Hills plants have been carried over to new facilities in Greenville and in Tijuana, Mexico, Morelli said.

"It turns out that our factory uptime and our yields were a lot better than we thought we could get,' he said....

....Sales agreements, which are being driven by PV incentives in European nations, already comprise 90 percent of volume for fiscal 2009 and about a third of volume for both fiscal 2010 and 2011, Morelli said.

"Right now we don't have any direct competition," he said. "We are the leaders in this building-integrated field that we focused the company on. So this is an area that we intend to extend our lead given the opportunity."