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Plans are to expand capacity over the next two years\u00a0to 500 megawatts by 2012.\u00a0 EverGreen is in talks with Chinese authorities to secure public funding to support the expansion, a company official tells us. It costs about $50 million to put the initial 100 megawatts online. Chinese provincial authorities funded about 2\/3\u00a0 (about $33\u00a0million) of the construction costs.\u00a0 EverGreen says it expects the government support to continue.\u00a0”We have a very strong\u00a0working relationship with our Chinese partner and are committed to growing our capacity in China,” the EverGreen official explains.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n The company official tells G.E.R. that EverGreen and partner Jiawei are on track to begin commercial operation with a 100-megawatt in\u00a0production capacity in July.<\/p>\n EverGreen is not alone in relocating to cheaper manufacturing locales. BP, just three years after expanding its PV plant in Maryland, opted to shut it down and relocate production to India and China<\/a>. It said that given the falling price of PV, it didn’t make any sense to operate a manufacturing plant in the U.S.<\/p>\n At a recent investor conference EverGreen said relocating to China would cut production costs by more than half to about $1 \/ watt by 2012, from about $2 \/ watt currently.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/greenenergyreporter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/ext_doc_copy_46661.jpg\" "\\"ext_doc_copy_46661\\"")
<\/a>EverGreen Solar, the Marlboro, Mass.-based maker of silicon wafers for solar panels, raised $165 million in convertible secured senior notes this week<\/a>. The company says it plans to use some of the cash to finance the expansion of its new manufacturing plant in Wuhan, China.<\/p>\n