Sharp-owned Recurrent Energy strikes manufacturing deal with Toronto-based Celestica
To compy with Ontario’s local content rules, Recurrent Energy has signed a multi-year supply agreement with contract manufacturer Celestica Inc. to produce 180 megawatts of crystalline PV modules. San Francisco-based Recurrent, which was acquired by consumer electronics giant Sharp last November, has been approved under Ontario’s feed-in-tariff program to develop more than 170 megawatts of solar in the province. At least 60 per cent of the content of those projects must come from Ontario.
This is just the latest deal for Celestica in the solar space. Last November it struck a deal with SolarBridge to manufacture solar microinverters. One of its biggest rivals, Flextronics, is also actively engaged in the solar space and “cleantech” market generally. The use of contract manufacturers is a fast and effective way for companies to set up shop in markets with local content requirements. Unfortunately, they can shutter operations just as quickly as they open them.
Tags: Celestica, Flextronics, Reccurent Energy, Sharp, SolarBridge
Tyler Hamilton is editor-in-chief of Corporate Knights magazine and a business columnist for the Toronto Star, Canada's largest daily newspaper. In addition to this Clean Break blog, Tyler writes a weekly column of the same name that discusses trends, happenings and innovators in the clean technology and green energy market. This blog is a personal project started in April 2005. It is not an official blog of the newspaper.
