The newly founded Canadian subsidiary, Silfab Ontario Inc., has already secured a production facility in Mississauga, said the company, and has launched an OEM (original equipment manufacturer) partnership program to meet the strong demand from international photovoltaics (PV) companies.
The company went on to say that since officially unveiling its plan last June, it has registered Silfab Ontario Inc. and proceeded to locate and secure the 100,000+ square foot production facility in Mississauga, Ontario. It added that it has broadened its business model to accommodate Ontario-based PV module OEM manufacturing, in order to share its production capabilities with domestic and international solar companies looking to enter the Ontario market. According to the company's timeline, Silfab Ontario is on track to start production early next year with a capacity of 60 MW, ramping up to 180 MW by 2012.?
Whereas the manufacturing of Silfabs own mono and multi-crystalline silicon modules is expected to absorb over half of the plant's capacity, the company stated the rest of the production will be devoted to OEM partners who seek to fulfill the fast-growing demand for renewable energy products in Ontario complying with the domestic content requirements set by the Ontario Government. It continued by saying that OEM partners will have access to Silfab founding team's 30 years of experience in the production of PV modules and a certified process that guarantees the full compliance with the production criteria set by the Ontario Feed-In-Tariff Law.
??Silfab Ontario explained it has already started the negotiations of OEM contracts with several leading companies: they will provide their own component materials to build PV modules at the new Mississauga plant, which will be distributed under their own brands.
The company added that the new, fully automated manufacturing facility, will be operated by around 200 Canadian skilled workers, at full capacity.
?"For Silfab, this is an invaluable opportunity to export our consolidated PV experience and know-how in a market that has just begun to unfold" commented Silfab SpA's and Silfab Ontario's president and CEO Franco Traverso. "Our decision to dedicate part of our production to OEM supply contracts is meant to address the needs of all those companies that – just like us – welcome Ontario Government's efforts to spearhead the Province's renewable energy industry but are unlikely to commit to the investment on a local manufacturing facility."
??He continued: "We are now expecting to install the first production line within the next few months – early this Fall we will proceed with the training of the first 70 workers with the assistance of our Croatian partner, Solaris d.o.o., a solar module manufacturing company, which I founded 10 years ago."
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