Solar panel maker to create 4,000 green jobs

US solar specialist Solyndra has begun construction of a second fabrication plant, which it claims could result in 3,000 temporary jobs and 1,000 or more long-term positions in the new plant.

The thin-film solar panel maker said in a statement this week that the new site will be located near its existing manufacturing plant in Fremont, California, and is designed to produce around 500MW a year.

The company said that the new site will allow it to address its $2bn order backlog and could create enough solar panels, along with the existing facility, to cut more than 350 million metric tons of C02 or 850 million barrels of oil.

"The economy needs clean tech alternatives to help it recover, but our planet requires clean tech solutions in order to survive," said Solyndra chief executive and founder, Dr Chris Gronet.

“Fab 2 will allow us to meet customer demand while making a positive impact on the world’s energy and environmental needs."

Solyndra, which gets its name from its cylindrical solar modules, also announced that it has become the first company to receive a loan – of around $535m – guaranteed by the US Department of Energy under Title XVII of the Energy Policy Act of 2005.

Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) president and CEO Rhone Resch welcomed the loan.

"The loan guarantee will go a long way to replacing jobs lost from the upcoming closure of the local Toyota auto plant," he said.

"This is another example of how the solar industry is emerging as an economic engine and stepping up to the plate to fill the job void left by traditional manufacturing sectors."

The site is also being funded by $198m in equity financing led by Argonaut Private Equity, while Goldman Sachs has also been hired to help manage the loan from the Department of Energy.

Late last year, Solyndra launched its new thin-film solar panel for the commercial rooftop market, which it says can be installed at half the cost of conventional solar. Instead of conventional crystalline solar cells, the company uses panels made from a series of tubes covered with copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) solar material.

The tubes absorb sunlight from all directions, so the panels do not need to be tilted, but can be laid flat on a roof.

In March, President Obama announced that he had allocated around $129bn for encouraging the use of solar power, hybrid cars and renewable energy projects.

Earlier this month Idaho-based startup Solar Roadways announced that it had received $100,000 (£61,400) in funding from the US Department of Transportation.

The company aims to produce parking lots and roads paved with solar panels, which it claims could generate almost enough energy to power the entire world.