SOLEXEL TO INVEST RM2.8B IN CRYSTALLINE SOLAR CELL PRODUCTION

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed today for the construction of a crystalline silicon solar cell manufacturing plant at the Senai Hi-Tech Park (SHTP) in the Iskandar Malaysia region.

It was between SHTP, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Senai Airport Terminal Services Sdn Bhd, and Solexel (M) Sdn Bhd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of California based Solexel Inc.

Witnessing the event, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak said it would provide the extra impetus needed to boost the development of SHTP and Iskandar Malaysia. “I believe this is just the beginning of a great future that holds for SHTP. I am sure I will be witnessing more ceremonies in the near future once the project is taking shape and completed. “Strategically located in the southern state of Johor, no doubt, this project holds an advantage in terms of location and connectivity to the global market. “I have every confidence that Solexel‟s investment in SHTP will be hugely rewarding and profitable,” he said during the ceremony here today.

Also present were Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman, Deputy International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir, Solexel Inc president and CEO Michael Wingert and SHTP CEO Datuk Ahmad Shukri Tajuddin.

Najib said Solexel's aggregate investment of RM2.8 billion for the next five years will provide 2,300 employment opportunities and generate much economic activities in Iskandar Malaysia. The solar cells project by Solexel is one of the technology sectors highly promoted by the government to encourage green and renewable energy industry in the country. “This will form the foundation for future green energy policy for the nation,” he said.

Najib, who is also Finance Minister, said Malaysia has made a firm commitment to embrace hitechnology, innovation, creativity and value-added activities as part of its strategy to transform itself into a knowledge-based economy and value-based society.“As part of the government initiatives to shift towards high-income economy and developed nation by the year 2020, the country needs a strong foundation in research, development and commercialisation activities. “As such, the development of Senai Hi-Tech Park augurs well with the government‟s long term blueprint to transform Malaysia to become a developed nation that revolved around technological innovations, creative industry and value-added activities,” he added.

PRIME MINISTER OF MALAYSIA LAUNCHED SENAI HI-TECH PARK - PRIVATE SECTORS WILL BE PRIME MOVER OF MALAYSIA'S ECONOMY

The government wants to see the private sector take over the role played by the public sector as the prime mover of the country's economy in line with the New Economic Model (NEM), Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak. The prime minister and finance minister said the role of the private sector would become more important in the NEM. In fact it could be likened to the engine of growth of the country's economy. "The government will only act as an enabler through the implementation of various incentives to enable the private sector to become the country's engine of economic growth," he said when opening the Aero Mall and Senai Airport Town on Saturday. Present were Johor Menteri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman, state executive councillors and senior state government officer

Najib said that since the 1997 Asian economic crisis, the role of the private sector in driving the economy had waned and the role had been taken over by the government sector. Najib said the integrated development at the Senai Airport, which involved the private sector in the aerospace, logistics and cargo industry, as well as the Senai High Technology Park (SHTP) was in line with the government's aspirations in the NEM. The government, as enabler, had given a RM150 million grant to develop the cargo industry at the airport and a RM300 million grant for the development of the SHTP, he added. "Through the various government incentives, the Senai Airport is expected to receive more investments within and outside the country shortly," he said

The private finance initiative (PFI) implemented by the government as enabler for the entry of more investments into the country was an apt method, he added. Najib said many people had misconstrued the PFI method as a form of "deferred payment", with the private sector building the infrastructure first and the government paying later. If this wrong PFI method was implemented, the government would be exposed to danger like what Greece and several other countries in Europe were facing in their debt crises now, he said.

He said the implementation of the NEM by the government was beginning to bear early fruit with the country's economic growth for the first quarter this year jumping to 10.1 per cent.It had also succeeded in raising the country's competitiveness to 10th place, from 18th as stated in the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook 2010, better than countries like the United Kingdom, he said.

PERDANA MENTERI MALAYSIA SAKSIKAN MoU SOLEXEL DAN SENAI HI-TECH PARK

Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak pada Selasa menyaksikan majlis menandatangani memorandum persefahaman (MoU) antara Senai Hi-Tech Park Sdn Bhd (SHTP) dan Solexel (M) Sdn Bhd (Solexel), syarikat pengeluar modul solar PV inovatif yang berpangkalan di Milpatas, California.

Perjanjian itu bertujuan membuka kilang untuk mengeluarkan sel solar silikon kristal di kawasan seluas 40 hektar di Senai Hi-Tech Park, Fasa 1 Zon Industri Iskandar Malaysia. MoU ditandatangani oleh Ketua Pegawai Eksekutif (CEO) SHTP Datuk Ahmad Shukri Tajuddin dan Presiden dan CEO Solexel, Michael Wingert.

Turut hadir Menteri Besar Johor Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman dan Timbalan Menteri Perdagangan Antarabangsa dan Industri Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir. Najib yang juga Menteri Kewangan, dalam ucapannya sebelum itu berkata projek terbabit akan merangsang ekonomi negara dan mewujudkan peluang pekerjaan.

"Solexel merancang mengeluarkan sel solar kristal dan modul dengan pelaburan aggregat RM 2.8 bilion untuk tempoh lima tahun akan datang

Pelaburan yang besar ini akan menyediakan 2,300 peluang pekerjaan untuk penduduk dan menjana aktiiti ekonomi di wilayah itu," kata Perdana Menteri. Projek solar itu adalah antara sektor teknologi yang dipromosikan oleh kerajaan bagi menggalakkan industri tenaga boleh baharu dan mesra alam dalam negara yang menjadi asas untuk dasar tenaga hijau masa depan, kata Najib.

MOSTI TUBUHKAN PUSAT NANO MALAYSIA BERNILAI RM200JUTA DI SENAI HI-TECH PARK

Direktorat Nanoteknologi Kebangsaan (NND), unit kepada Kementerian Sains, Teknologi dan Inovasi (MOSTI), akan mewujudkan sebuah komplek Pusat NanoMalaysia bernilai RM200 juta di Taman Teknologi Tinggi Senai, Johor.

Menteri Sains, Teknologi dan Inovasi, Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Ongkili berkata projek itu, di bawah Rancangan Malaysia Ke-10 akan menjadi yang pertama seumpamanya di Malaysia bagi memacukan lagi perkembangan nanoteknologi. "Pusat itu dijangka siap dalam tempoh 12 bulan dengan pusat-pusat pentadbiran dan inkubasi," kata beliau kepada pemberita selepas merasmikan Persidangan dan Ekspo NanoMalaysia 2011 di sini Rabu.

Ia akan bertindak sebagai satu pusat sehenti untuk aktiviti nano sains dan teknologi dan menyediakan "hubungan yang hilang" antara makmal dan pasaran. Pusat itu akan dimajukan oleh Senai High Tech Park Sdn Bhd menerusi konsep kerjasama swastaawam. Ia akan diuruskan oleh NND dengan perbadanan NanoMalaysia Bhd sebagai jentera komersil.

Pembangunan pusat itu ialah sebahagian daripada Hala Tuju Program NanoMalaysia bagi memudahkan dan menyediakan platform pengkomersilan, termasuk kemudahan inkubator teknologi. Ongkili berkata pusat itu bertujuan mewujudkan kelompok besar penting usahawan dan memudahkan kewujudan syarikat-syarikat berasaskan nanoteknologi baharu.

"Ia akan menyediakan infrastruktur dan kemudahan dengan persekitaran kondusif bagi aktiviti penyelidikan nano hiliran, serta sebagai tempat kerja para saintis dan pakar nanoteknologi," kata beliau. Di bawah Pelan Induk Program NanoMalaysia selama 10 tahun dari tempoh 2010-2020, ia dijangka dapat meningkatkan bakat dengan pengetahuan tinggi dalam sains nano dan teknologi dan mengkomersilkan tiga produk tempatan iaitu aerogel, tiub nano karbon dan pemangkin nano pada 2012/2013.

Di bawah Pelan Induk Program NanoMalaysia selama 10 tahun dari tempoh 2010-2020, ia dijangka dapat meningkatkan bakat dengan pengetahuan tinggi dalam sains nano dan teknologi dan mengkomersilkan tiga produk tempatan iaitu aerogel, tiub nano karbon dan pemangkin nano pada 2012/2013. Program itu bertujuan menjana antara RM100 juta dan RM150 juta dalam perniagaan pada tahun 2012/2013 dan RM300 juta pada 2015.

SOLEXEL RAISES USD25 MILLION FOR SILICON GAS-BASED SOLAR PANELS

Solexel Inc., a closely held U.S. solar-panel maker that uses silicon gas to manufacture its wafers, received $25 million to build a pilot plant in California, according to an executive.

New investor Gentry Venture Partners led the financing, which is the first close of Solexel’s Series C round, Mark Kerstens, the company’s chief sales and marketing officer, said today by telephone. SunPower Corp. (SPWR), the U.S. solar-panel maker that’s 66 percent-owned by Total SA (FP), also was a new investor and participated with existing backers Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Technology Partners and DAG Ventures LLC, he said.

The pilot is intended to test Solexel’s manufacturing process with larger equipment that would be used in a factory planned in Malaysia,according to Kerstens. “We have already proven that the technology works on the smaller tools,” he said. “We will be building out manufacturing capacity to prove scalability.”

Solexel, based in Milpitas, California, makes its solar cells using silicon gas instead of growing silicon ingots in furnaces and slicing them into wafers like other companies, according to Kerstens. Those processes are more expensive because more silicon is required and about half of it is wasted, he said. “We do away with the traditional process of a polysilicon plant,” Kerstens said. “We deposit a gas and we grow every wafer individually, and we can therefore control the thickness,” he said.

For Malaysia Factory : The technology produces cells that are “ultra thin” and more efficient at converting light to electricity than conventional photovoltaic materials, Kerstens said. He wouldn’t say what the manufacturing capacity of the pilot will be or when production is expected to begin in Malaysia. Solexel’s 100-acre (405 hectares) site at Senai Hi-Tech Park in southern Malaysia may accommodate a factory capable of making 1 gigawatt of solar panels a year, Kerstens said. It will be developed in stages, beginning with a 200 megawatt-a-year production line that may cost $275 million, he said. The entire project may require an investment of $930 million, Solexel said when it was announced in August.

Source from Bloomberg