杜邦在 Wilmington的Chestnut Run 工厂开设了一个新的实验室，这个占地10000平方英尺的项目是服务于北美市场的，这也是杜邦公司在过去的13个月里开设的第三个太阳能研究项目。而该公司的领导人 David Miller 说，公司2010年的销售额有望增长50%，2011年有望超过10亿美元，而到2014年公司的目标是年销售额超过20亿美元。
杜邦公司希望该实验室的研究有助于提高转换效率和太阳能电池材料的耐用性，同时还要降低制造和安装成本，总而言之，就是要增加和碳来源电力相比的竞争性。
杜邦公司首席执行官Ellen Kullman 说，公司会继续增加对可再生能源的投资，这个实验室项目是杜邦未来发展很重要的一部分，作为一个深思熟虑的商业决定，这个项目不仅能解决未来几十年能源需求增长的问题，还可以增加公司的利润。
New research into solar power at the DuPont Co.’s Chestnut Run campus will accelerate innovation and help drive down the price of harnessing the sun’s rays to generate electricity, company officials said Monday at the opening of the research facility there.
The Chestnut Run lab, a 10,000-square-foot facility to serve North America, is the third solar power research facility DuPont has opened in the last 13 months. The lab on Del. 141 is similar to ones the company opened in Shanghai in May 2009 and Meyrin, Switzerland, in February.
Solar power, a business DuPont has been in for some time, is a growing moneymaker for the company. DuPont leaders expect solar sales to increase 50 percent this year, and top $1 billion in 2011. By 2014, they expect solar power products will generate more than $2 billion in annual sales.
Delaware Gov. Jack Markell, Rep. Mike Castle, R-Del., and dozens of others joined DuPont CEO Ellen Kullman at the elaborate, hours-long ribbon-cutting Monday afternoon to laud the company's efforts to boost research into renewable energy development.
DuPont hopes research at the lab will help increase the efficiency and durability of materials used in solar cells, while reducing manufacturing and installation costs. The goal of the research is to make solar power competitive with carbon-sourced electricity.
"This new laboratory is a really important part of DuPont's future," Kullman said Monday.
Kullman framed DuPont's investments in photovoltaic technology as a thoughtful business decision, one that will help address a growing need for new energy sources as the Earth's population soars over coming decades while boosting the company's profits.
Robert Birkmire, director of the University of Delaware's Institute of Energy Conversion, who attended Monday's opening, said the investment in the new laboratory signals continued emphasis on photovoltaic technologies.
"What it's demonstrating is DuPont's expanding interest and commitment to photovoltaic and renewable energy in general," he said. "I think that's the critical thing to take away."
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