thin_film_solar_pictureThe outlook is sunny for Philadelphia as a Greek solar-cell manufacturer has chosen the city to host its newest factory.

The Heliosphera US factory will cost about $500 million and should be completed sometime in 2011. Gov. Ed Rendell landed the thin-film bigshots with $49 million in incentives and various other tax-reducing possibilities. Philadelphia beat out 34 other locations.

Excitement abounds in the area as the 500,000 square food facility located at the Navy Yard should directly create 400 jobs, with the possibility of more secondary employment. The plant will be able to produce 1.2 million thin-film solar modules per year.

This deal will put Philadelphia front and center in the race to Go Green, as the city attempts to cultivate an eco-friendly image. According to pv-tech.org:

“There are more than 1300 solar projects under way in Pennsylvania that, once completed, will bring the state’s total solar capacity to nearly 60MW, according to state officials. One of those PV system installations, funded by a combination of federal recovery act monies and state grants, is a 1.5MW power plant to be built on 6.5 acres of Navy Yard property by Conergy and Exelon Power Generation.

The Navy Yard will also be the site for two new solar-related centers run by the Pennsylvania State University, funded in part by U.S. Department of Energy grants announced earlier this year.”

Most of the solar projects are made possible through the affordability and efficiency of thin-film photovoltaics, the same kind of solar system that Global Home Improvement can install on your home!