Abound Solar on Tuesday unveiled its first manufacturing plant in Longmont.
The plant will begin commercial production of photovoltaic solar panels next month. At full capacity, it will manufacture 3 million panels a year.
The Colorado State University spinoff plans to hire 300 workers over the next 12 months, taking its total employee count to 500.
“Abound means to be present in great quantities,” said Pascal Noronha, Abound Solar’s chief executive officer.
“Our mission is to have our products throughout the United States and other countries that adopt solar in a big way.”
Gov. Bill Ritter attended the ceremony, along with Robert Kennedy Jr. and Hermann Scheer, general chairman of World Council for Renewable Energy.
The company uses cadmium telluride — commonly found in copper zinc mines — to make solar panels. The cheap material, coupled with an efficient process, allows it to convert sheets of glass into solar panels in less than two hours.
First Solar, a panelmaker based in Tempe, Ariz., that uses cadmium telluride, in February said it could produce a panel for less than $1 a watt.
Abound Solar’s cost will fall below $1 a watt in three months, Pascal said.
The company owes its technology to CSU researchers, including Professor W.S. Sampath whose work on the technology dates back to 1987.
“We’d want to be the Google of clean energy,” Sampath has said.
The company started Jan. 1, 2007. It was originally christened AVA Solar, but changed its name to Abound Solar last month.
Gargi Chakrabarty: 303-954-2976 or gchakrabarty@denverpost.com
