Q-Cells has announced its intentions to develop a major thin film photovoltaics manufacturing facility at the Silicon Border industrial park near Mexicali, Mexico at a projected cost of $3.5 billion. The development is dependent on the future growth of the PV market in the US, Mexico and Latin America and is a mid to long-term plan according to Q-Cells. Q-Cells said that an agreement with the Mexican Federal Government, the Government of the State of Baja California and Silicon Border Development, which plans to build and operate the industrial hi-tech park, have been made.
The park is close to the U.S border in Southern California and has been granted a range of incentives by the Mexican Government, though the park has struggled to gain actual commitments from hi-tech industries for many years, especially from the semiconductor industry.
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The German PV manufacturer said that the plan was part of its ‘internationalisation strategy.’
Update 1.
According to a separate press release from Silicon Border, Q-Cells manufacturing complex at the ‘Silicon Border Science Park’ will consist of multiple buildings built in phases, with the construction of the first phase beginning in the fourth quarter of 2008. The overall size of the Q-Cells site will be 60 hectares (150 acres) of the 4,000-hectare (10,000 acres) park.
