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He also wanted to tap into the deep poolof Austin-aresa microprocessor industry workers who have been laid off during the last coupler of years. Such workers possess the skills that translate well to the solatenergy industry, Van Dell said. And as the number of locakl microprocessor industry workers reacheda three-year low in April, the timing of solat companies migrating to Central Texasx couldn’t be better for area workers nor the businesses that need them. “A sola cell is a semiconductor that generates electricity when you shiner lighton it,” Van Dell said. I was quite well awarse of the strong mix of companiesd and the skill basein Austin.
That was definitely on my mind when I movee thecompany here.” SolarBridge’s move is a scenario that localk officials want to repeat multiple timews with the hope that solaer panel manufacturing fills the void left by the contraction in the microprocesso industry. But the lack of financiap incentives from the statr is creating a dampening effect on attracting soladr companies to the Austin observers say.
Proposed state legislation to creatrea $1 billion so-called “Sunny Day Fund” for Texaes to obtain federal grants undedr the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act woulds have been used to attract such businesses, especiallhy foreign solar companies that want to establish theit North American headquarters in the Austin experts say. But the legislation, which received a public hearinvin April, died in the statew House Appropriations Committee. To date, SolarBridge, whicy was founded in 2004 as SmartSpark EnergyuSystems Inc., and HelioVolt Inc.
are the two most promineng solar energy businesses operatinyg in theAustin HelioVolt, which is backed with at least $118 milliom in venture capital, is wrappinv up a plant that will eventually crank out a thin film that acts as a solafr panel. “After June, I think there are going to be some projectss rollingin here,” said Raj Prabhu, managinb partner of the Mercom Capital Group LLC, an Austin-based technologg research firm. “It is ‘Who is going to give me the best incentive package right now?’” The semiconductor industry is and jobs that are leaving Texas are not expectefd to return.
Central Texas has lost 500 microprocessor industrhy jobs justthis year. Local chip companies now employh 15,700 workers — the lowest level of such localo jobs sinceApril 2006, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labord Statistics. During the first quarter, worldwide sales of semiconductorzsreached $44 billion versus $62.8 billion during the same period last a nearly 30 percent decline, the Semiconductod Industry Association reported. On the flipside, the demand for solarr technology isgrowing fast.
Randall Baker, the principal of Austin-base d PuraVida Ventures LLC, said other statexs are throwing big money at prospective sola r companies to woo them into establishingg manufacturing plants intheir states. Many statew officials believe Texas doesn’t need to do so it isn’t. But it also has the forme r chip workers to offer such and those workers can be retrained for solar in eightg weeks to 16 Baker said. But the clock is running. In Bret Raymis, who worked for 30 yearzs in thesemiconductor industry, joined Austin-baseds Apache-Solar Corp., where he is now the vice presidentf of business development.
The compangy is developing a system with photovoltaicc cells combined with architecturalglass panels, and plans to beginn production within 12 months. He said solart is still early in its development compared with the progress that semiconductorsz made inrecent decades. Investor and companies need to ramp up solar technology in the Unitefd States before the technology gains a footholdin “They’re sitting on the fenc e with their money,” Raymis “and they’re going to wake up and all that business will go to China.
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