In the cover photo, Kyocera’s San Diego and Tijuana executives admire a solar-powered demonstration car at the company’s global headquarters in Kyoto, Japan. The company this month begins building the San Diego/Tijuana region into a major North American supplier of solar panels. Although Kyocera has no plans to market solar cars, this prototype demonstrates the technology’s viability. The same technology that Kyocera will employ here gives this car a range of more than 130 miles and a top speed exceeding 60 mph.

Kyocera Solar Inc. is equipping a factory in Tijuana that within its first year is expected to manufacture enough solar cells to produce 35 megawatts of energy — more than 3.5 percent of the world’s total photovoltaic solar product. Output will increase each year, predicts Tom Dyer, the company’s vice president for marketing and government affairs.

After representatives of Japanese, American and Mexican subsidiaries of Kyocera Corp. cut the ribbon for the plant at 2005 Blvd. Buena Vista Otay on Dec. 10, they officially will begin manufacturing about 100 million 3.5-watt cells per year, capable of providing enough energy for 10,000 average American homes, says Dyer.

The 35-megawatt production in Tijuana will bring Kyocera’s production worldwide to 240 megawatts a year. The company has production facilities in Japan and China and is planning another one in the Czech Republic. Major competitors in this industry include Shell Oil, British Petroleum and Sharp Solar.

In preparation for the solar boom, Kyocera is planning to install a 251-kilowatt facility in the San Diego parking lot of Kyocera America Inc. at 5611 Balboa Ave. That installation will generate 98 percent of the electronic ceramics manufacturer’s needs and also serve as a demonstration area for the company’s sales force. Dyer does not discourage speculation that the headquarters of Kyocera Solar Inc., now located in Scottsdale, Ariz., may be moved to San Diego in the future.

With California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger pushing legislation to encourage the construction industry to equip new homes with solar panels, and with supply unable to meet demand in the retrofit market, Dyer agrees with the predictions of the California Solar Energy Association of solar becoming one of California’s growth industries.

The association estimates that over a 10-year period the statewide industry will generate 1,700-megawatts of energy, produce 24,000 new jobs mainly in sales and installation, and remove 1.34 million tons of carbon dioxide from the air. Dyer also notes San Diego Mayor Dick Murphy has a goal of making San Diego one of the nation’s largest solar users.

While the highly automated Tijuana facility will employ only 24 to 40 people, the major impact is expected to be felt in San Diego and environs as photovoltaic solar systems are installed onto the roofs of homes and industries. For a typical home, such a system costs about $20,000, with rebates bringing that down to between $9,000 and $10,000. Dyer says the solar equipment pays for itself within 12 years, with the product guaranteed for 25 years and its life extending for an unknown number of years after that. Even better news: the prices are coming down as worldwide production goes up.

Last year, the worldwide total of photovoltaic solar energy was about 700 megawatts, and 900 megawatts are expected to be produced globally this year. Germany is the biggest consumer of solar energy. It used 300 megawatts of solar energy last year, compared to 100 megawatts in the United States. Given how much larger the potential U.S. market is than Germany’s, the outlook is optimistic, says Dye.

— Donald H. Harrison