SunEdison Teams Up with Ontario Auto Parts Manufacturer to Produce Solar Equipment

Retooled plant creates jobs in green industry

TORONTO, July 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - SunEdison, a division of MEMC Electronic Materials, Inc. (NYSE: WFR), today announced its plans to produce racking equipment for its Canadian solar projects with Samco Solar, A Division of Samco Machinery Ltd., a Scarborough, Ontario based equipment and part manufacturer strongly focused on automotive.

Expected to directly and indirectly result in more than 100 green jobs in the province, this investment supports SunEdison's continuing activities to accelerate the completion of solar PV projects in Ontario.

"Ontario's Green Energy Act has established our province as a beachhead in the clean energy economy," said Brad Duguid, Minister of Energy and Infrastructure. "It has already attracted $16 billion in renewable energy investment which will help create a projected 36,000 jobs."

Since 2008, Samco has experienced a 63% decline in their automotive sales, traditionally an area of strength for the company, which resulted in a 37% decline in their workforce. This new contract with SunEdison will create a 25% increase in Samco's labour force, generating 15 to 18 permanent and highly skilled jobs. The balance of the new jobs will stem from the build out of SunEdison's commercial roof-top projects.

"This contract and the FIT program of the Ontario government have helped to stimulate growth in our company," says David A. Pichard, VP Solar Business Development at Samco Machinery Ltd. "Working with a solar powerhouse like SunEdison has provided our organization with a significant opportunity for expansion into the green energy sector."

Retooling of the Samco plant has already begun. Using SunEdison's proprietary design, which has been deployed globally on over 300 roof-tops, the first solar racking is expected to come off the line in September 2010. SunEdison also foresees exporting the solar racking equipment to the U.S market.

"We've been very pleased with the manufacturing expertise in the province as demonstrated by Samco," said Jason Gray, Vice President, Canada for SunEdison. "Production of the racking is extremely cost competitive here in Ontario, enabling us to produce product for U.S. export."

The initiative will enable SunEdison to meet or exceed the domestic content requirements for its commercial roof-top solar PV projects as outlined in Ontario's Feed-in-Tariff (FIT) program, which will require 60 percent of solar equipment used in its projects to be produced locally by 2011. "Together, with the support of local communities, we continue to advance the goals of the Green Energy Act," concluded Gray.

About SunEdison

SunEdison is North America's largest solar energy services provider. The company finances, installs and operates distributed power plants using proven photovoltaic technologies, delivering fully managed solar energy services for its commercial, government and utility customers. For more information about SunEdison, please visit www.sunedison.ca.

About MEMC

MEMC is a global leader in the manufacture and sale of wafers and related intermediate products to the semiconductor and solar industries. MEMC has been a pioneer in the design and development of silicon wafer technologies for 50 years. With R&D and manufacturing facilities in North America, Europe, and Asia, MEMC enables the next generation of high-performance semiconductor devices and solar cells. Through its SunEdison division, MEMC is also a developer of solar power projects and North America's largest solar energy services provider. MEMC's common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "WFR" and is included in the S&P 500 Index. For more information about MEMC, please visit www.memc.com.

About Samco Solar

Samco Solar is a leading turnkey fabricator of solar mounting systems for large scale rooftop and ground-mounted PV applications. Services include product development support, procurement, manufacturing, logistics and project management. Leveraging forty years of expertise in operating, developing and implementing internationally leading edge and high precision roll forming, stamping, bending, machining and fastening technologies, Samco Solar seeks partners interested in having solar mounting solutions manufactured and delivered just-in-time to the highest quality standards. Samco Solar is a division of Samco Machinery Ltd., a global IS0:9001 certified company incorporated in 1972 and headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, with established manufacturing capabilities in Canada, the US and India and sales representation offices around the world. For more information, please visit www.samco-solar.com and www.samco-machinery.com.

SOURCE SunEdison LLC

WANT YOUR COMPANY'S NEWS FEATURED ON PRNEWSWIRE.COM?

440k+
Newsrooms &
Influencers

9k+
Digital Media
Outlets

270k+
Journalists
Opted In

GET STARTED