SunPower Corp., a manufacturer of high-efficiency solar cells, solar panels and solar systems, announced plans to own and operate a solar panel manufacturing facility in Mexicali, Mexicoto meet the demand of a growing North American solar market.

SunPower plans to lease an existing building, which has up to 320,000 square feet of capacity. Today's announcement is consistent with SunPower's strategy to expand its upstream vertical integration for local panel manufacturing. SunPower will manufacture its high-efficiency E18 series, E19 series and world record setting E20 series solar panels for residential, commercial and power plant projects, and will also produce its SunPower® T5 Solar Roof Tile system. 

SunPower worked closely with the Industrial Development Commission of Mexicali in locating its facility."Mexicali is rapidly becoming an industrial hub for high tech companies, offering an educated workforce and a growing manufacturing area," said Mexicali Mayor Francisco Perez Tejada Padilla.  "We welcome SunPower to our city and are pleased that they have chosen Mexicali to establish its solar panel manufacturing facility."

"Establishing our own manufacturing facility in Mexicali means we will be positioned to quickly deliver our high-efficiency, high-reliability solar products to a growing North American solar market," said Marty Neese, SunPower's chief operating officer.  "Over the past year, we have successfully ramped up manufacturing at Fab 3 in Malaysia where we set records for output and yield efficiency.  SunPower also launched manufacturing in California, with a facility in Silicon Valley, and expanded our panel manufacturing in Europe."