Colo. Welcomes German Solar Manufacturer to Denver

Colo. Gov. Ritter (right) and Denver Mayor Hickenlooper (left) speak with Pierre-Pascal Urbon, CFO of SMA Solar Technology, after a news conference at the state capitol, Oct. 26, 2009.

Colo. Gov. Bill Ritter and Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper welcomed officials from SMA Solar Technology to announce the Germany-based company opening its first North American manufacturing site in Denver. This will be the largest solar inverter production facility in the U.S. and SMA's first manufacturing plant outside Germany.

''Inverters'' convert direct current (DC) generated by solar panels into grid-acceptable alternating current (AC).

Production is expected to begin in 2010 with 300 employees and a capacity to expand to 700.

''The company's decision to invest over $20 million in this site and to locate in Colorado emphasizes our growing clean-energy industry, the growing market for photovoltaics and Colorado's success at transforming our energy future,'' said Gov. Ritter.

''In the medium term, we expect the U.S. market to become the largest solar market globally,'' said Gunther Cramer, CEO of SMA Solar Technology. ''With our new production facility in Denver, we will be able to reduce transportation and interim storage costs as well as currency exchange risks.''

In addition to the state and city, other project partners include Metro Denver Economic Development Corp., Forest City Stapleton and Etkin Johnson Group.