The Solartech Renewables L.L.C. production line is now up and running at Ulster County”™s Tech City, producing solar panels using materials from Spectra-Watt in Dutchess County.
The relationship means the Hudson Valley now hosts the only domestically owned solar panel manufacturing production line in the eastern U.S.
The business partnership serves as a high-water mark for The Solar Energy consortium (TSEC) and its three-year effort to create a solar power corridor in the Hudson Valley.
“We couldn”™t be more pleased with the welcome we”™ve received from New York and are proud to establish this manufacturing facility here,” said Solartech Renewables Chairman and CEO Todd Roberts at a ceremony July 26 celebrating the first solar panels rolling off their production line set up at Tech City.
Roberts said he raised $30 million for the company and was seeking a home for it when he heard about TSEC in February 2009. He said he was delighted by the teamwork and cooperation of the public and private sector to bring his prospective company to Tech City and said the decision is proving to be a wise one, saying the area already boasts a high quality work force from IBM and other hi-tech companies in the area.
The work on the Solartech Renewables manufacturing facility began in March, turning 25,000 square feet of the 93,000-square-foot manufacturing floor into a state-of-the-art manufacturing line. Testing was completed in June and the panels are now rolling off the line, warranted for 27.5 years, the longest such backing for solar panels in the industry.
Solartech expects to hire more than 100 employees to meet an initial production capacity of 12 megawatts, or approximately 55,000 solar panels, a year. A second production line could be added by the beginning of next year if prospective major orders for solar panels materialize, meaning 300 people could be working there by year”™s end.
Pleased as he is with the success of Solartech Renewables, TSEC President and CEO Vincent Cozzolino is equally pleased the company is using material from a TSEC partner. “The Solartech- SpectraWatt partnership is a perfect example of TSEC”™s work to  bringing solar manufacturing companies together in a New York-based production and R&D cluster,” said Cozzolino.
“Now that SpectraWatt and Solartech are in production together, Solartech will be able to use a local supplier for its principal raw material,” said Cozzolino. “The two companies can work together in New York to drive product improvement and innovation in a way that would not be possible if these two companies were located in different states.”
“Solartech is  proving that with the right investments, we can build a domestic solar energy industry that boosts our local economy, creates jobs and provides a source for clean energy,” said U.S. Rep. Maurice D. Hinchey, whose vision of a solar corridor helped create TSEC and whose acumen securing federal funds have proven a key ingredient in the success of  TSEC and its business partners.”It’s really great how this is all coming together, and I know it”™s just the beginning.”
