SCHOTT Solar announced it has expanded production at its state-of-the-art U.S. manufacturing facility in Albuquerque, NM by starting production on the facility’s second concentrating solar power (CSP) receiver line.

With the launch of the second production line, the facility can produce enough receivers to meet the demands of up to 400 megawatts (MW) of CSP power plants per year.

SCHOTT Solar receivers are advanced, specially coated steel absorber tubes embedded in evacuated glass envelopes. These receivers sit at the focal point of parabolic mirrors, where the sun’s thermal radiation is concentrated. A heat transfer fluid (HTF) is heated by the sun’s energy inside the receiver. The fluid then flows to a heat exchanger, which creates steam. This steam spins a turbine, creating energy with no carbon emissions.

“We are proud to announce the completion of the second CSP receiver production line at our Albuquerque manufacturing facility less than two months after we inaugurated the facility. This marks another important step in SCHOTT Solar’s plans to streamline our manufacturing capability and help meet the growing U.S. market demand for clean, domestic and reliable solar energy,” said Mark Finocchario, president and CEO of SCHOTT Solar.

SCHOTT Solar’s Albuquerque facility is the first in the U.S. to produce receivers used in parabolic trough, utility-scale, concentrated solar power plants (CSP), and the first in the world to produce both receivers for CSP along side photovoltaic modules.

The 200,000 square-foot facility represents an initial investment of more than $100 million in the Albuquerque region from the global SCHOTT Solar group. SCHOTT has created over 300 jobs at the new facility.

SCHOTT Solar’s Albuquerque facility is the first new solar manufacturing facility to open since the federal government signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act into law. By 2016, the U.S. solar industry is expected to support more than 440,000 permanent, full-time jobs, including many in the manufacturing and construction industries, according to Navigant Consulting.