A leading Italian producer provider of Photovoltaic (PV) green energy products and services has set up shop in Mississauga, Ontario, with the goal of building a solar power module manufacturing facility. Silfab Ontario Inc., a subsidiary of Silfab SpA (Italy), announced that they have it had secured the required 100,000+ square foot plant, to accommodate the manufacturer’s own its mono and multi-crystalline silicon module production it addition to its Ontario-based PV original equipment manufacturing (OEM) capabilities.

Silfab Ontario to Become Leader in Canada

When Silfab SpA unveiled its plans for the production facility last June, it announced that its investment for the first phase of the project equalled $15 million (Canadian). With the facility now secured, Silfab Ontario estimates production will commence in 2011, enabling it to reach 60 MW capacity by the end of the initial year and grow to 180 MW by 2012. The division of the facility into two distinct areas - one for the manufacturer’s own modules and the other for OEM partners - enables Silfab to continue providing its products and services and partner with other green energy investors hoping to expand operations within Canada. President and CEO of Silfab SpA and Silfab Ontario, Franco Traverso, stated, “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.”

Silfab Offers Green Energy Partnership More Than Financial Incentives

Silfab brings to the partnership more than a leading-edge facility since it also ensures that its partners and clients meet the Ontario Power Authority’s (OPA) Feed-In-Tariff (FIT) program’s domestic content requirement for green energy producers. Silfab also offers its proven 30-year experience in solar power production and its working knowledge of the FIT program.

Several leading global companies have already approached Silfab Ontario to start negotiating OEM terms and contracts. The partnerships usually require that these companies provide their own materials to Silfab for it to build the PV modules to be distributed under the companies’ own brand names. Silfab needed the large facility site in order to sustain the labour and production rates required to grow these partnerships. At full capacity, the plant could employ 200 skilled workers within Canada.

While Silfab plans to focus its business partnerships on solar power modules, it will also include the assembly and distribution of sun-tracking systems that increase renewable energy production by 25% to 30% compared to standard PV systems. Traverso added, “For Silfab, this is an invaluable opportunity to export our consolidated photovoltaic experience and know-how in a market that has just begun to unfold.”