Memphis Solar Plant Serves Hot National Market

Each year members of the IBEW at the Memphis Sharp plant produce enough solar panels to create about 64 megawatts, capable of powering 14,000 homes. Credit: IBEW for the Apollo Alliance

Sharp depends on union workers

When most people think of Memphis the first things that usually come to mind are Elvis, barbecue, and the blues. However, in the not-too-distant future solar energy might also be on that list.

Sharp Electronics, the second largest manufacturer of photovoltaic solar cells in the world, converted part of its Memphis plant to solar panel production in 2003, its first panel manufacturing facility outside of Japan.

Each year the Memphis Sharp plant produces enough panels to create about 64 megawatts of potential power, enough to power 14,000 homes. Global sales of photovoltaic equipment are expected to near $20 billion in 2008, and are increasing 25 percent annually.

The U.S. is now the fastest growing market in the world for photovoltaic installations, though it trails far behind the installed solar capacity of countries like Germany and Japan, which have strong national energy policies directing them towards renewable sources.

One of the few unionized solar producers in the U.S., Sharp employs about 190 members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW). With 450 workers in all, the Memphis plant used to make televisions. In 2000, those jobs were outsourced to Mexico.

Growing consumer and commercial demand for photovoltaics makes the U.S. market worth targeting. Memphis’ central location along the Mississippi River, and links to other transportation routes, means that Sharp can easily serve both coasts.

“Manufacturing is growing again in the United States. We’re finally bringing jobs here,” said Kenneth Ingram, business manager at IBEW Local 474, and a former chief steward at the plant. In the past 20 years 119,000 IBEW members have lost their jobs nationally, but Ingram and others are convinced that new clean energy technologies and green industries can reverse that trend.

A good example, he says, is the Sharp plant, which is currently considering expanding to keep up with demand. It currently has about half the U.S. market share in photovoltaic panels. According to Ingram, relations between the IBEW and Sharp’s Memphis management are cooperative and cordial. In fact, academics have concluded that the plant’s progressive labor relations are a major factor in its success.

Cassandra Stern, a former reporter for The Washington Post, is a contributor to the Apollo Alliance.

For More Information:

Sharp Solar
Phone: 901-362-2386
Web site: http://solar.sharpusa.com/solar/home/0,2462,,00.html

Kenny Ingram
Assistant Business Manager
IBEW Local 474
http://www.ibewlocal474.com/
Phone: 901-726-4060