Chinese solar imports boost Arizona's transportation sector
One of the industries that might be benefiting the most from Arizona’s rise to solar prominence is based on old-fashioned oil.
The state’s trucking and transportation industry has been a huge beneficiary of increased shipping of solar products — from panels to parts for utility-scale products being built in western Arizona’s deserts.
The amount of material being shipped into the state is substantial and growing. For the first quarter of this year, the combined weight of solar products entering Arizona already has eclipsed the entire total for 2011, and the number of shipments in 2012 is on track to at least double last year’s total.
“It’s mostly from China,” said Kevin Silva, senior director for solar at DB Schenker USA, the local operation of the global shipping and logistics company based in Berlin. “There are projects throughout the Southwest that have a European component, but the big ones we’re seeing are from China.”
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