“Ein Platz an der Sonne” – The Sun King Looks West

Green Party activist Frank Asbeck – the world’s first "Green Billionaire" – sees good opportunities in America.  His company – SolarWorld AG – is building America’s biggest solar facility in Oregon. Here is the report from Inside GreenTech:

German solar manufacturer SolarWorld is planning to bring a large facility in Hillsboro, Oregon online as the biggest solar plant in North America.

SolarWorld plans to establish silicon wafer and cell production at the site, reaching a capacity of 500 MW by 2009.

If completed as planned [ed.: and nobody beats it to the punch] it would be the largest silicon photovolatic plant in America, the company said.

Japan’s Komatsu Group originally invested some $500 million in the facility, located near Intel’s main factory in the U.S., outfitting it as a silicon chip plant. The factory never entered production due to weak demand in the chip industry. SolarWorld bought the never-used facility at a steal for only $40 million.

Asbeck will be investing another $400 million in the plant, which will create 400 jobs. At capacity, the Oregon facility can supply solar electricity to half a million Americans.

Asbeck still owns 25% of SolarWorld – which now has a market valuation in excess of € 3 billion. He is a living example of the credo "do well by doing good."  In fact, SolarWorld’s prospectus contains this quote from one of my favorite writers – Erich Kästner: "Es gibt nichts Gutes, außer man tut es!" (roughly translated as: "Good things cannot exist until someone makes them happen.")