Georgia-based Suniva, Inc. plans to open a new solar cell manufacturing facility in Laurens, South Carolina. The investment will support the creation of about 564 new jobs. “South Carolina already has a very rich history in advanced manufacturing. This is the next evolution for South Carolina, which is the next generation of advanced manufacturing [and] renewable energy. As we go through this AI boom and the creation of data centers everywhere, we need to respond as a society to electrical generation needs and develop electricity quickly,” Suniva president Matt Card said. He also said the new manufacturing facility will produce 4.5 gigawatts of solar cells per year. Data centers and ones driven by the AI boom consume a great deal of electricity, so more power generation is needed. While tech companies don’t appear to be the most intentional, vocal leaders in the clean, renewable energy space, when they choose solar power and wind power, and perhaps even a bit of geothermal power, they are driving greater clean energy expansion. Solar power plants can be built more quickly and cheaply than new coal and natural gas power plants. New nuclear power tends to be far more expensive and much slower to build. Coal and natural gas combustion generates toxic air pollution that harms human health and the planet. When describing the overall trend of increasing electricity use, Card made an important point about energy independence: ‘The country continues to use more and more energy; that’s a fact no matter how that’s being deployed. Whether it’s to power our cell phones, our cars, homes or businesses, or data centers, we need more. The country needs to be energy independent, and we need to protect our domestic energy security.”What was not mentioned are the environmental benefits investing in solar power has. This absence might be deliberate because in a variety of business contexts the environment is not something some business people want to talk about openly or frequently.
