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Solar Firms Bringing Jobs to Northwestern Ohio

Willard & Kelsey, Xunlight and First Solar Growing and Expanding

Apr 3, 2009 Christopher Miller

Unemployed Ohio auto workers could find themselves working for the state's rapidly emerging green energy solar companies near Toledo where new jobs are being created.

Northwest Ohio already is home to one of the largest thin-film solar manufacturing plants in the U.S., First Solar, with more than 700 employees and growing. And two rising firms, Willard & Kelsey and Xunlight, plan to create hundreds of jobs this year and possibly more in the near future. One local economic development official, Tom Blaha, has suggested Northwest Ohio could become the Silicon Valley of America's solar industry.

The New Big Three?

Three solar module manufacturers ramping up production in and around Toledo, Ohio, include:

  • Willard & Kelsey Solar Group, LLC - The new company's founding group of 34 engineers and alternative energy veterans is comprised almost entirely of former employees of two other Toledo-born solar companies, Glasstech and First Solar. Willard & Kelsey has announced plans to hire 400 people by the end of the year at its new factory just south of Toledo in the suburb of Perrysburg. During a March 25 press conference at the factory, company CEO William Mitchell and Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland said many skills possessed by unemployed auto industry workers, from CNC operators to engineers, will apply to new solar industry's needs. Willard & Kelsey plans ramping-up production by the Fourth Quarter of this year and produce 2 million solar modules when fully operational, running around-the-clock shifts seven days a week. But that's only phase one of a more ambitious project, which if successful will lead to a plant exion and a workforce 3,600, from engineers to CNC operators. The company has applied for $100 million in federal stimulus money to facilitate expansion.
  • Xunlight, Corp. - Formerly known as MWOE Solar, Inc., Xunlight is a spin-off from the University of Toledo led by Dr. Xunming Den, president and CEO and a professor at the university. The firm was launched in 2007 and specializes in thin-film modules using an amorphous silicon semiconductor. Xunlight is preparing to produce flexible "solar carpets" at it's Toledo plant. These solar carpets can be applied to roofs of commercial businesses and other structures. Xunlight anticipates creating 280 jobs initially. In addition to its solar carpets, the company last year announced development of Cadmium Telluride (CdTe) thin-film solar modules. CdTe is used as a semiconductor, instead of silicon, and is already being used successfully by another Northwest Ohio company which got its start in Toledo.
  • First Solar, Inc. - The oldest of the three, First Solar, LLC, was founded in 1999 arising from the late Toledo inventor Harold McMaster's earlier solar business ventures, Glasstech and Solar Cells, using CdTe thin-film technology. First Solar started commercial production in 2002. The company went public in 2006, skyrocketing on the Nasdaq under the ticker FSLR. Employment is 700 with plans to add over 130 new jobs as part of a $135 million expansion underway. A fourth production line and more R&D space is being added. Headquartered in Tempe, Arizona, its sole North American production plant is in Northwest Ohio, near Toledo and just a few miles from the new Willard & Kelsey facility. First Solar also recently opened factories in Germany and Malaysia. The company on March 20 announced it had manufactured 1 gigawatt of solar modules since 2002, the equivalent of an average-sized nuclear power plant.

A New Industry for the Old Rust Belt

The struggling auto industry has contributed heavily to Northwestern Ohio's high unemployment., as much as 18-percent in one county. Manufacturers have laid-off thousands and eliminated shifts, including in the city of Toledo where Chrysler's Jeep plant and GM and Ford manufacturers are located. Solar manufacuturing could offer hope for the jobless.

The copyright of the article Solar Firms Bringing Jobs to Northwestern Ohio in Business Profiles is owned by Christopher Miller. Permission to republish Solar Firms Bringing Jobs to Northwestern Ohio in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
Willard & Kelsey is Near Toledo, Ohio, Chris Miller Willard & Kelsey is Near Toledo, Ohio
   
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