Silicon Energy moves from Arlington to Marysville

Silicon Energy of Arlington became the state's first solar panel manufacturer last summer, and after being purchased by Spectrum Renewable Investments in California from the Arlington-based OutBack Power Systems at the start of this year, Silicon Energy is set to move to a new facility this summer.

By Kirk Boxleitner • April 12, 2010 2:34 pm

ARLINGTON — Silicon Energy of Arlington became the state’s first solar panel manufacturer last summer, and after being purchased by Spectrum Renewable Investments in California from the Arlington-based OutBack Power Systems at the start of this year, Silicon Energy is set to move to a new facility this summer.

Silicon Energy won’t be going far, though, since it’s moving from its current roughly 14,000-square-foot facility, in the business and industrial park of the Arlington Municipal Airport, to a nearly 27,000-square-foot facility, at 3506 124th St. NE in Marysville.

“Business has been busy, so we’re preparing to expand,” said Gary Shaver, president and CEO of Silicon Energy. “After we got certified last August, we had a normal start for a business, slow and careful, but responding to demand has really ramped up our production.”

Since the start of the year, Silicon Energy has doubled its staff, from 10 to 20 employees, and according to Shaver, has raced to fill all its orders. As such, it needed new equipment and a higher capacity for growth than was expected.

“This decision was a necessity, and we had to make it quickly,” Shaver said. “The space that we needed simply wasn’t available in Arlington, even though we’ve had good relations with the city of Arlington and we expect to continue to do so in the future. We hope the city of Marysville can be equally welcoming to us.”

Looking ahead, Silicon Energy is growing fast enough that expects its business to expand outside state lines, especially with a number of new products waiting in the wings. One is a “more standard” version of its solar panels, for structures that can’t support the weight and don’t require the aesthetics of its its high-durability glass-encased panels, while Shaver described the other products as complimenting Silicon Energy’s existing line, but held off on revealing anything else about them.

“They’ll show that we’re not just a one-trick pony,” Shaver said. “We’re very positive and excited to face these new challenges, and we’ve gotten very good responses from our customers.”

Shaver added that Silicon Energy will be moving into its new facility over the course of the next couple of months.

Silicon Energy is currently located at 6209 192nd St. NE in Arlington, and its Web site is silicon-energy.com.