California solar cell companies to merge

SAN JOSE, Calif., Nov. 15 (UPI) -- SunPower Corp. of California, which makes solar cells, said it will pay about $265 million to acquire PowerLight Corp., a private intra-state company.

PowerLight specializes in large-scale solar power systems and has built plants in California, New Jersey, Nevada and Hawaii.

In Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy and South Korea, PowerLight designs, develops, operates and maintains solar electric power plants as large as 10 megawatts, including two of the world's largest solar electric power plants.

The combined company will have approximately 1,600 employees in 10 sales offices and four manufacturing locations worldwide.