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15 January 2004 - SunPower Philippines Corporation, a unit of US-based SunPower Corporation, has signed a pact with the Philippine government to build a $330m solar wafer factory, the largest such facility in Southeast Asia.
The Department of Energy (DOE) said that SunPower chose the Philippines over India after the government assembled a team comprising of private firms and state agencies that assured SunPower a steady supply of electricity for the plant.
SunPower Corporation is an affiliate of US technology firm Cypress Semiconductor.
Energy Undersecretary Eduardo Manalac said the government has signed a memorandum of understanding for the provision of high-quality electricity, which is one of their top requirements, aside from being reasonably priced.
He said that officials of DOE and SunPower Corporation are presently working on the actual contract. The project would make the Philippines an export hub for solar wafers, which trap heat from the sun and convert it into electrical energy.
"They should start producing solar wafers by first half of this year," Manalac said.
Philippines Energy Secretary Vincent Perez said that the SunPower solar wafer facility would have an initial capacity of 25 MW and is expected to increase to 150 MW in a few years.
SunPower would build the facility in Laguna Technopark Special Economic Zone, south of Manila. This is expected to create some 760 jobs.
The project will greatly help the governments electrification programme, particularly for remote provinces. Around 1,500 households in the Banawe, Mountain Province in northern Philippines are already using solar energy as a source of electricity. Some remote villages in the southern Mindanao also have solar home systems.
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