News Article
Holographic acquisition for Prism
Prism Solar Technologies acquires New York manufacturing facility with re-usable legacy equipment
Prism Solar Technologies,. (PST), a manufacturer of holographic solar modules, has announced closing on the acquisition of a new manufacturing site in upstate New York. The site, located in Highland New York, includes 6.5 acres of land and a 93,000 sq. ft manufacturing building. The facility was purchased for $3,750,000 from PLASMACO, a Panasonic facility. Prism intends to create over two hundred jobs in the first few years and up to 400 over five years. However, some new job creation may occur at another site in the area. The Highland facility will ultimately produce 60 megawatts of solar modules for domestic markets and 1000 megawatts of HPC film for sale to other solar module manufacturers. It’s the first time an optics technology will be used to leverage the capacity of the entire solar industry.
“We are extremely excited to have purchased this unique facility” said Rick Lewandowski, Prism’s CEO. “This will allow us to jump-start our operations and will immediately begin renovating the facility to allow a quick transition to our module manufacturing pilot line and then on to full production.”
Prism’s new plant includes features that would normally be found in a purpose-built site, such as glass handling and glass cleaning equipment, a compete machine shop, specialty optical equipment, 30,000 sq. ft of clean-rooms, a wet lab, facility-wide security and building management systems. Some equipment can be modified to produce thin film and crystalline photovoltaic cells and modules.
“We value this facility, including its equipment and clean rooms, to be over ten times what we paid,” states Tom Kacandes, Prism’s Director of Operations.
“Prism is very fortunate to have a great team working on this project”, said Lewandowski. “Not only do we have a top level staff, but the network of government and non-governmental people including Congressman Maurice Hinchey, The Solar Energy Consortium (TSEC), Ulster County Industrial Development Agency (IDA) and County Executive Mike Hein along with local leadership in the Town of Lloyd, have all worked hard to help Prism find a home. Frankly, this is more than we could have hoped for,” Lewandowski went on to say.
“Prism is exactly the kind of solar industry partner that TSEC had hoped to attract to the Mid-Hudson Valley. The company has industry leading technology, a talented management team, and is community minded. They are the flagship TSEC partner and we will continue to do everything we can to help them grow quickly in NYS, and we look forward to the good employment opportunity they are creating,” says Vincent Cozzolino, TSEC’s President.
Congressman Hinchey facilitated a $1,000,000 grant for Prism Solar through The Solar Energy Consortium (TSEC) earlier this year as part of its financing to begin manufacturing of its patented holographic planar concentrator technology in New York State. Additional funding for Prism was included in the Omnibus Budget bill passed by the Congress earlier this year.
"These are the moments we hoped for and expected when we created TSEC two years ago and the reason we made subsequent federal investments," Hinchey said. "With Prism's expansive new facility in place, hundreds of new jobs will steadily be created over the next several years in Ulster County. Prism and the rest of TSEC's partners will help grow our local economy while also helping to free our country of its dependence on foreign oil and other fossil fuels."
“We are extremely excited to have purchased this unique facility” said Rick Lewandowski, Prism’s CEO. “This will allow us to jump-start our operations and will immediately begin renovating the facility to allow a quick transition to our module manufacturing pilot line and then on to full production.”
Prism’s new plant includes features that would normally be found in a purpose-built site, such as glass handling and glass cleaning equipment, a compete machine shop, specialty optical equipment, 30,000 sq. ft of clean-rooms, a wet lab, facility-wide security and building management systems. Some equipment can be modified to produce thin film and crystalline photovoltaic cells and modules.
“We value this facility, including its equipment and clean rooms, to be over ten times what we paid,” states Tom Kacandes, Prism’s Director of Operations.
“Prism is very fortunate to have a great team working on this project”, said Lewandowski. “Not only do we have a top level staff, but the network of government and non-governmental people including Congressman Maurice Hinchey, The Solar Energy Consortium (TSEC), Ulster County Industrial Development Agency (IDA) and County Executive Mike Hein along with local leadership in the Town of Lloyd, have all worked hard to help Prism find a home. Frankly, this is more than we could have hoped for,” Lewandowski went on to say.
“Prism is exactly the kind of solar industry partner that TSEC had hoped to attract to the Mid-Hudson Valley. The company has industry leading technology, a talented management team, and is community minded. They are the flagship TSEC partner and we will continue to do everything we can to help them grow quickly in NYS, and we look forward to the good employment opportunity they are creating,” says Vincent Cozzolino, TSEC’s President.
Congressman Hinchey facilitated a $1,000,000 grant for Prism Solar through The Solar Energy Consortium (TSEC) earlier this year as part of its financing to begin manufacturing of its patented holographic planar concentrator technology in New York State. Additional funding for Prism was included in the Omnibus Budget bill passed by the Congress earlier this year.
"These are the moments we hoped for and expected when we created TSEC two years ago and the reason we made subsequent federal investments," Hinchey said. "With Prism's expansive new facility in place, hundreds of new jobs will steadily be created over the next several years in Ulster County. Prism and the rest of TSEC's partners will help grow our local economy while also helping to free our country of its dependence on foreign oil and other fossil fuels."
