Siemens Solar Completes Expansion of Facility

Siemens Solar Industries, based in Camarillo, has completed a $3-million expansion of its Vancouver, Wash., crystal-growing facility.

Chet Farris, Siemens’ chief operating officer, said the expansion will triple the Vancouver plant’s capacity. The facility makes crystals used in manufacturing solar, or photovoltaic, modules and cells.

The Vancouver expansion and increased capacity at other solar-energy plants come at a time when solar is making a comeback. Demand is being boosted by a combination of cost-lowering technology and a push by Siemens and others to reach the 2 billion people in the world who still live without electricity.

Siemens Solar is a unit of Germany’s Siemens Group.

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