Earlier this week, the Silicon Border CleanTECH Park in Mexicali, Mexico, won an agreement for what will be its first photovoltaic manufacturing facility, a $500 million concentrated photovoltaic plant, at the site near the U.S.-Mexico border. The Baja Sun Energy facility will produce Arima EcoEnergy concentrated photovoltaic arrays, which will also be installed on site to power the manufacturing facility and feed power back to the grid.

Initially the company will install 10 megawatts of Arima arrays, with the first 2 to 3 megawatts being manufactured at Arima’s facility in Taipei, Taiwan, according to Baja Sun Chair and Silicon Border park CEO DJ Hill. “We’re planning to start at the same time we build the factory,” Hill said. “The balance will come from the Mexicali plant so we can show progress immediately, and so we can show the two side-by-side,” he said.

Ultimately they plan to build a 150 megawatt solar farm at the site.

“We’re in discussions with other customers, but not yet working on the PPA,” he said.

The second facility will use co-branded Arima-Baja Sun modules under license with Arima, produced at the manufacturing facility, Hill said. When complete, the facility will be capable of producing 100 megawatts of modules annually.

Initially the products produced at the facility will have both names on them, according to Hill.

“Because it’s an exact duplicate of the Arima products,” he said.

That’s because they’ve been through the certification process, which anything branded as purely by Baja Sun would have to go through a new certification process.

“Five years from now, 10 years from now, who knows. In the foreseeable future it will be marketed with both names,” he said.

The industrial solar park is ideally located, according to Hill.

“We have an excellent cost structure with low-costs in Mexico and excellent access to the U.S. market,” he said. The location will allow the plant to capitalize on inexpensive labor and qualify it for certain incentive programs in the U.S., getting the most from both countries.

The plant will also be a big employer in the region. In all, the Baja Sun manufacturing facility is expected to create 4,240 jobs.

“The first phase in the first year will require about 1,000 people, and then each year the factory will expand,” Hill said.

When completed, there will be roughly 4,000 manufacturing jobs at the site, with the remainder being in other areas, he said.

Image courtesy of Arima