By Patrick Anderson
Staff Writer
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A resurgent Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates is betting on the future of solar power, expanding production again at its Blackburn Industrial Park plant and hiring again.
This month Varian unveiled new microchip-making equipment for solar cells it believes will help make solar energy competitive with conventional power sources on the electrical grid.
The new product, called Solion, works in similar fashion to Varian's other machines, which implant ions in computer ships.
The difference is Solion is specifically designed to implant the chips that make up solar panels and could be significantly more efficient in converting the energy created by the sun into electricity.
"We believe that the world is going to consume a lot more energy," said Varian Chief Financial Officer Bob Halliday on Friday. "We think the important thing with solar is getting the cost down and this could help get that cost down per watt toward grid parity."
Grid parity is the point at which, at least in sunny regions, the price of electricity generated from the sun equals the price of other energy sources feeding the power grid.
Halliday said some experts are predicting that in favorable areas, where sun is abundant and energy expensive, solar could reach parity as early as 2012 or 2013.
Varian expects Solion to produce 4 percent more electricity from the same amount of sunshine as older photovoltaic cells.
The company estimates that Solion could reach sales of $100 million within the next three years.
The introduction of Solion comes as sales for Varian's other products continues to surge after hemorrhaging in the 2008 financial crisis.
On Thursday, Varian reported its fifth consecutive quarter of increased revenues and profit since the depths of the recession.
Between April and June, Varian reported revenues of $227 million and income of $45.2 million, compared with revenue of $63.8 million and an operating loss of $19.6 million during the first three months of 2009.
Along with the rebound in earnings and investment in new products, Varian has begun hiring again, especially in Gloucester.
Halliday said Varian added 71 new workers, most of them in manufacturing and research and development, in the third quarter and estimated that hiring gains in the fourth quarter would exceed that.
In total, Varian, Cape Ann's largest private-sector employer, reported 1,627 employees at the end of June.
At its peak in 2007, Varian employed around 2,000, but had laid off an estimated 700 workers during the recession.
In addition to Solion, which Halliday said had been in development for around three years, Varian is also working on a new process that would make the silicon cells in solar panels more inexpensive.
That project, still in the research phase, is being made possible with $3.2 million in federal stimulus money.
The stimulus money alone was estimated to create between 15 and 20 new jobs at the Gloucester facility.
Patrick Anderson may be contacted at 978-283-7000 x3455 or panderson@gloucestertimes.com.
