Freemont California boasts not only a healthy population of solar power
consumers, but soon it will have its very own solar panel plant. The
plant plans to produce solar power kits as well as solar panels. The
Solyndra Company received a loan of $535 million to begin construction
of its plant. The plant, which was scheduled to begin construction last
year, was put on hold due to the economic crisis which hit the global
credit markets.
The owner of the company, Ben Beirman, announced last fall that he did
not know when construction would begin because access to the funds needed
for construction, over $1 billion, was cut off during the crisis. The
Energy Policy Act of 2005 came to the rescue this spring; giving the
company its first disbursement of funds in the form of a loan for the
plant construction.
Once completed the plant will give the city of Fremont over 1,000 jobs
and will produce solar panels and kits for home and business installation.
The company plans to break ground on the plant sometime in 2009, an
official announcement has not been made.