HelioVolt Opens Solar Factory in Texas

HelioVolt Corp. held a ribbon-cutting ceremony today in Austin, Texas, to mark the opening of its first factory for manufacturing high-performance thin-film solar energy products. The 122,400 sq-ft certified green facility is expected to create approximately 160 new jobs. City and state officials, federal representatives, and energy industry leaders attended the ceremony. The factory will produce high-quality copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) thin-film solar products based on the company's proprietary FASST reactive transfer printing process. HelioVolt said it is using FASST to develop both conventional modules and next-generation building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) products for the global solar energy market.