Germany's effort to dominate the solar-power industry gained momentum recently with the launch of a $73M project to build a factory for Canada's Arise Technologies Corp. The factory, located in Saxony, will employ around 100 people and production of photovoltaic cells (which convert sunlight into electricity) in mid-2008. Canadian-based Arise, could not resist going to Germany to build its first factory, even though it had received $6.5M in research and development grants from the Canadian government. The German government gave the company the equivalent of $35M in grants to finance the factory's construction. Germany also guaranteed most of the $17.5M in loans linked to the project. The rest came in the form of equity from Arise, which in April raised $25M at $1/share.
