First Solar is Chinese delegation’s first stop on solar tour around the US

8 September 2009

A delegation of senior Chinese government leaders descended upon solar energy company First Solar headquarters in the US to learn how the company’s solar technology can contribute to China’s solar economy.

Hosted by First Solar CEO Mike Ahearn, the delegation led by chairman Wu Bangguo of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of China met with company executives to explore China’s potential to seize upon its natural resources and create a solar market.

‘If the US and China work together and strongly support solar growth, we believe we can reduce the cost of solar electricity to ‘grid parity’ – where it is competitive with traditional energy sources – and create the blueprint for accelerated mass scale deployment of solar power worldwide to mitigate climate change,’ Ahearn said.

The Chinese delegation’s visit to First Solar is the first stop on a tour that will take them to Washington to meet with the Obama Administration to discuss a variety of energy and business initiatives.

‘As a nation, we need strong policy support to create a vibrant solar industry and the green jobs that come with it,’ Ahearn added. ‘Solar represents one of our best opportunities to help address global climate change and energy security, and we should ensure that it becomes a permanent, sustainable source of renewable electricity for the United States and the world.’

First Solar recently announced agreements to build two large-scale solar power projects in Southern California with a total capacity of 550MW.

First Solar recently hired Robert J Gillette as CEO.

Copyright © 2009 NewNet

Tags: solar

This story was published on Tuesday, September 8th, 2009 at 10:55 am and is filed under Asia, North America, companies, solar. You can follow any responses to article entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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