SolarWorld: One Hundred Millionth Solar Cell Produced
The one hundred millionth solar cell was today handed over to the sales and distribution people of SolarWorld AG [Pink: SRWRF]. The total number of solar cells manufactured since the start of production in 2002 is equivalent to the size of 270 football fields [European or US?] or the area covered by the Duchy of Monaco. Who makes these calculations? BTW, that’s 1,974,444 sq meters. Aren’t we more interested in how much energy will be produced than how we can completely cover Monaco? Over the lifespan of these solar cells, it is expected that 40 million tons of greenhouse gases will be avoided. That is a useful number and a good contribution. Another useful fact is that more than 1,000 people are employed in this productive endeavor in Freiberg, Germany, where the solar cells are produced under clean room conditions. Next year, only polycrystalline solar cells will be produced in Freiberg while the monocrystalline production will be transferred to a new manufacturing site to be the largest solar production facility in the USA. Not all jobs are leaving the USA, especially since the US$ has decreased in value over the last several years. The direction of the $ exchange has recently begun to shift as European economies have been doing worse than that of the US. What will this do to foreign investment in the US?
Photo courtesy of Duchy of Monaco.
