Jul 9 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Sherri Buri McDonald The Register-Guard, Eugene, Ore.


A consortium of 30 Chinese companies in the solar panel industry is setting up a U.S. sales hub in Eugene, the group's president, Ocean Yuan, told The Register-Guard on Wednesday.

The group, named Centron Solar, has leased a 25,000-square-foot warehouse in west Eugene, has 10 high-level managers on board and has ambitious plans to grow to 200 to 300 employees in a year, Yuan said.

The group probably also will set up one or two solar panel assembly lines in Eugene, creating about 50 "green" jobs. Those positions would pay about $20 an hour, including benefits, he said.

The group's members -- mature manufacturers with proven technologies -- have banded together to serve the vast potential market for affordable solar panels in the United States, Yuan said.

"Instead of coming in here by themselves and confusing the market with company names that the average American can't even pronounce, we decided to combine forces and create an easy-to-pronounce, easy-to-remember name, which is Centron Solar," Yuan said.

Eugene Mayor Kitty Piercy said she had met with the group's representatives a couple of times, but hadn't spoken with them recently.

Of course, we're very interested in solar," she said. "We believe it's right for Eugene and right for our community energy goals."

Piercy said that if Centron Solar does end up creating hundreds of jobs in Eugene, "it would be terrific. It would be wonderful. We've been really trying to encourage solar development here."

A couple of other solar businesses besides Centron Solar have expressed interest in Eugene, Piercy said. "We've been following all the leads we get."

Solar panel manufacture uses technologies similar to semiconductor manufacture. When Hynix closed its computer-chip plant in west Eugene last year, eliminating 1,000 jobs, it set off speculation that a solar manufacturer might take up residence there.

Yuan said his group looked at the former Hynix plant in March.

"The problem is it's too clean," he said. "We don't need the cleanest of clean rooms for solar panel manufacture. The (cost of) maintenance and everything else is too high."

Centron Solar moved into its Eugene facility at 4723 Pacific Ave., off Danebo Avenue, two weeks ago, and is storing solar panels there, Yuan said. "We're already running out of space," Yuan said. "We're already eyeing the office complex in front of Hynix," referring to the Westec Business Park.

Centron Solar plans to revolutionize the way solar panels are sold in the United States, he said.

"Our business model is different from anybody else in the solar business," Yuan said. "We sell directly to installers, rather than going through distributors, so that keeps the cost lower.

"We want to make solar panels so cheap that 80 percent of American families can afford to use them and save electricity for the next 20 to 30 years."

Financial details of the consortium's plans were not disclosed.

The companies in the consortium already make solar panels in China, Yuan said.

"China produces over 50 percent of the world's solar panels, but 90 percent (of them) are shipped to Europe," he said. Only 5 percent of the solar panels in the U.S. market are produced in China, Yuan said.

The consortium would continue to make the panels in China, but "our vision is to establish multiple assembly shops around the nation in key U.S. areas," he said.

Centron Solar probably would not site a large assembly plant in Eugene because it is not a major solar market, Yuan said.

"We want to build our manufacturing facilities closer to the customer," he said.

The consortium has, however, chosen Eugene as "an ideal place for our foothold to establish a logistics center in the United States," Yuan said. He said Eugene is strategically located along the I-5 corridor to serve the West Coast.

Yuan is not a newcomer to Eugene. He graduated from the University of Oregon's Lundquist School of Business in 1993.

Greg Evans, a local educator, consultant and Lane Transit District board member, said he met Yuan when Yuan was a UO student, and the men have been friends for 20 years.

"This is very legitimate. Trust me," Evans said.

"They're the real deal."

Evans said he has no financial interest in Centron Solar but that he is a consultant for the group in government affairs.

Centron Solar plans to formally announce its launch at the InterSolar 2009 trade show next week in San Francisco.

(c) 2009, McClatchy-Tribune Information Services