Kyocera Opens 2nd Tijuana Plant

Kyocera Corp. of Kyoto, Japan, has inaugurated its second photovoltaic module manufacturing plant in Tijuana, Mexico. The event began with an off-site breakfast attended by Mexican President Felipe de Jesús Calderón Hinojosa; officials of the Mexican federal government; the governor of the state of Baja California Norte; the mayors of Tijuana, Mexicali, Tecate, Rosarito and Ensenada; and the presidents of Kyocera Mexicana SA de CV, Kyocera America Inc. and Kyocera Solar Inc. The two-story factory includes 223,000 sq ft of production space and a 28,000-sq-ft building connecting the new facility to a pre-existing one. At its maximum annual production capacity of 150 MW, the plant will make enough solar modules to equip 42,600 homes with 3.5-kW electric-generating systems. The factory is part of a multiyear plan to expand the company’s solar module manufacturing capacity globally. By the end of March 2012, Kyocera’s sites in Mexico, the Czech Republic, China and Japan will produce solar modules with a combined 650-MW capacity – enough to power about 185,000 homes annually. The company plans to invest an estimated 30 billion yen (about $300 million) in plants and equipment during the course of the expansion effort, both at these sites and at Kyocera’s solar cell production center in Yohkaichi, Japan.