02 December 2010
The Welsh Assembly Government has announced that Sharp Manufacturing UK will invest £35 million GBP ($56 million USD) in its Wrexham, Wales, UK solar manufacturing plant.
This new investment will result in the creation of three new assembly lines, doubling the production capacity of photovoltaic (PV) solar panels to 500 megawatts (MW) at the Wales plant. The Wales plant opened in 2004 with an annual capacity of 20MW, and has continued to expand since then.
Sharp Manufacturing UK currently employs 750 at the site, and is planning to hire several hundred additional workers. Sharp is also launching a new renewable energy academy at its Wales facility to train workers to install the solar panels that will power homes and businesses.
“As a global company, Sharp could have chosen anywhere to invest, but selected Wales because of its tech-savvy workforce and government support for business,” said Geraint Jones, head of the Americas for the Welsh Assembly Government. “Sharp’s location in Wales helps reach Europe’s fast-growing solar panel technology market.”
