For the Gazette-Times

MILLERSBURG — A company that produces polysilicon used to produce computer chips and solar panels plans to purchase 8 acres in Millersburg and build a manufacturing plant that will employ 50 people, John Pascone, president of the Albany-Millersburg Economic Development Corp, announced today.

The company could employ 500 people by 2011 if it goes ahead with a $700 million expansion.

Peak Sun Silicon Corp., which currently employs about 15 people in Carlsbad, Calif., is negotiating the purchase from the city of Millersburg with an option on another 90 acres. The property is north of Arnold Lane and west of the Albany Paper Mill on Old Salem Road.

Forrest Reid, Millersburg city attorney, said the selling price of the eight acres is $90,000 per acre. Peak Sun will also have an option to purchase 90 acres at a starting price of $90,000 per acre, increasing to $100,000 per acre after two years.

The first phase of the project — which had the code name Project Crystal during the yearlong negotiations — will create approximately 50 new jobs with an initial investment of about $18 million. The plant is expected to be operating by the fall of 2008.

The Millersburg City Council will hold a public hearing on project and land sale on Nov. 13.

Peak Sun’s current plant in California will be closed. It was founded by John Schumacher, a Stanford-trained materials scientist who 30 years ago developed a process for purifying metallurgical grade silicon. The company’s main market is the solar cell industry, which is expected to grow substantially in the coming years, according to Pascone.

“This project took more than a year of communication, negotiation and teamwork and everyone involved worked very hard to help make it a reality,” Pascone said. “We started working on this last September.”

The initial contact about the Millersburg site was made through the Oregon Economic Development Department and regional development officers Bruce Laird and Bob Warren.

“The solar industry in Oregon is growing rapidly and we’re a part of that,” Peak Sun spokesman Chris Robertson said of the decision to relocate. “The policy environment within the state is also good for attracting solar industry companies.”