3M to build new solar product factory in China

Earlier today I wrote about GE building an enormous solar plant.  This afternoon, I'm reading about one that 3M is building.  These companies are not non-profit, feel-good, tree-hugging enterprises.  They are for-profit concerns that have an obligation to maximize return for their shareholders.  If they think investing in green power avenues such as solar energy and wind power, then there's a good reason for doing so.

From Construction Digital:

The 3M Company has announced plans for the construction of a new manufacturing plant in China that will produce renewable energy products.
The plant will be built in Hefei, an industrial city in China between the Yangtze and Huaihe rivers. This will be the 3M Company’s ninth manufacturing plant built in China. Construction is scheduled to begin this summer.
The plant will specialize in the manufacturing of solar energy products. One of its main products will be Scotchshield, a thin film that protects the backsides of the solar photovoltaic modules that are common in China.
This is considered to be a major move by the American-based company to cement its hold in the renewable energy market in Asia. This new plant comes in the wake of 3M making recent investments in solar energy products at facilities in Germany, Columbia, Missouri, Hilden and Singapore.
3M has been involved with the manufacturing of renewable enrgy products since the 70s but it was only in the last three years that the company identified solar energy products as a major growth sector. The company formed its renewable energy division in 2009, which specializes in products for wind, geothermal, and biofuels in addition to solar energy.
3M’s CEO George Buckley announced in December that he expects the market for photovoltaic panels to grow by 27 percent by 2015.
The 3M Company was not the only American company making significant moves in the renewable energy market this week. General Electric, already the largest maker of wind turbines in the U.S., announced yesterday that it plans to build the largest solar-panel factory in America.