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28 February 2011 – San Francisco: At today’s ChinaSF Chinese New Year Reception, San Francisco Mayor Edwin M. Lee, along with Consul General Gao Zhansheng of the Chinese Consulate and Assessor-Recorder Phil Ting, announced two recent achievements by GCL Solar Energy and Zinch.com, two businesses recruited to San Francisco by ChinaSF (www.chinasf.org).

 

The reception was hosted at K&L Gates, a ChinaSF Board member firm, and was attended by over 200 business executives from San Francisco Bay Area-based firms.  Remarks were given by Mayor Lee, Consul General Gao, Assessor-Recorder Ting, ChinaSF Executive Director Ginny Fang, and ChinaSF Board member Howard Chen, a Partner at K&L Gates.

 

“ChinaSF congratulates all of the businesses we have supported in their expansion to San Francisco,” said Fang, “Through additional jobs and increased investment, our City benefits directly from their continued success and growth.  We look forward to even greater achievements in the Year of the Rabbit!”

 

The first of the evening’s announcements was that GCL Solar Energy (GCL) will be expanding its North American headquarters in San Francisco, thereby tripling its footprint in the City.  ChinaSF first recruited GCL to San Francisco in 2009. It is the US subsidiary of GCL Poly in China, the world’s largest polysilicon producer and solar wafer supplier.  

 

 “GCL Solar Energy’s success and growth is yet further affirmation of the tremendous concentration of exceptional, industry-leading cleantech firms in San Francisco.  Additionally, it demonstrates the impact of ChinaSF’s economic development efforts.” said Mayor Lee.  “We heartily congratulate GCL Solar Energy on reaching another milestone of success as it expands its presence in the City.”

 

“By locating our North American headquarters presence here in San Francisco, we were well-positioned to build relationships with key global solar industry players in order to gain visibility into important solar opportunities,” said Yumin Liu, President of GCL Solar Energy.  “As we continue to grow our presence in San Francisco and the North American market, we look forward to even greater achievements.”

 

GCL Solar Energy will now occupy a signature space for their new headquarters location at 1 Market Street.  Not only helping to recruit GCL to San Francisco, ChinaSF introduced GCL to San Francisco’s cleantech industry leaders, including, Wells Fargo & Company, a ChinaSF Board member firm.  Since the initial introduction, GCL and Wells Fargo announced a partnership to provide $100 million in funding for 6 solar projects to be completed in 2011. 

 

“Now in its third year of operation, ChinaSF’s positive impact on jobs and investment will grow exponentially.  Though the firms we recruit to San Francisco start small, as demonstrated by GCL Solar Energy, they have the ability to grow quickly,” said Ting, ChinaSF Board Chair. “ChinaSF congratulates GCL Solar Energy.”

 

The ChinaSF reception also acknowledged Zinch.com, which was chosen by the White House to be the primary San Francisco-based partner to support President Obama’s 100,000 Strong Initiative.  This initiative was part of an agreement between President Obama and President Hu to increase student exchange between China and the US.  The US will send 100,000 students to study abroad in China, and China will send 100,000 students to study in the US.  

 

“Since moving to San Francisco, Zinch has continued to grow taking advantage of both the talented local workforce and San Francisco's cultural and geographic proximity to China,” said Anne Dwane, CEO of Zinch.com. “Since our business in the US and China continues to expand, we are thrilled to be recognized for our efforts in support of President Obama's 100,000 Strong Initiative.  Zinch is enthusiastic to help more students find opportunities to study in China.  Increasing the number and diversity of students enjoying study abroad programs not only enriches education but also builds meaningful, lasting cross-cultural ties.”

 

“As ChinaSF continues to recruit companies like GCL Solar Energy and Zinch.com, an increasingly stronger foundation is built for San Francisco’s future economic prosperity,” said Dennis Conaghan, Executive Director of the San Francisco Center for Economic Development. “Not only does our economy benefit from an increased number of jobs, but the presence of these leading companies strengthens our industries, reaffirming San Francisco’s leadership across the innovation industry sectors.”

 

About GCL Solar Energy

GCL Solar Energy is the US subsidiary of GCL-Poly Energy Holdings Limited.  GCL-Poly is the word’s largest polysilicon producer and wafer supplier and also a top green energy enterprise in China. Annual polysilicon production capacity attained 21,000MT at the end of 2010, and the quality of polysilicon products reached electronic grade level. The Group’s wafer production capacity already achieved 3.5GW at the end of November 2010. In addition, the Group owns a 20MW solar farm in Xuzhou, Jiangsu province, which is currently the largest solar farm in China. For more information about GCL-Poly, please visit the company’s website at www.gcl-poly.com.hk.  

 

For press enquiries, please contact Joseph Chow at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

 

 

About ChinaSF

With offices in Beijing, Shanghai and San Francisco, ChinaSF is a public-private initiative of the San Francisco Center for Economic Development (SFCED), in close partnership with the City of San Francisco’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development (OEWD), supported and advised by private sector partners.  Its goal is to attract and retain Chinese investment and business expansion into San Francisco and the Bay Area, and to also support San Francisco Bay Area businesses in their business efforts in China.

 

(中文版)

 

2011年2月28日-旧金山：在今天召开的旧金山市驻华办公室的中国农历新年招待会上，旧金山市李孟贤市长与中华人民共和国驻旧金山总领事高占生和估值官丁右立先生一起宣布了协鑫光伏和Zinch.com两家公司的最新成果。这两家企业均由旧金山市驻华办公室引入旧金山发展。(www.chinasf.org) 

 

这次招待会由旧金山市驻华办公室董事会成员公司-高盖茨律师事务所主办，有来自旧金山地区各企业超过200多名的商业精英参加。李市长，高领事，丁估值官，旧金山市驻华办公室总监方景仪和旧金山市驻华办公室顾问委员会成员，高盖茨律师事务所合伙人陈雷应在会上做了发言。

 

“旧金山市驻华办公室祝贺所有在我们的支持下进入旧金山发展的企业，”方总监说道。“通过增加的就业机会和不断增长的投资，我们的城市从他们持续不断的成功和发展中直接受益。我们期待着在兔年更大的成就！”

 

当晚发布的第一项成果是协鑫光伏(GCL)将扩大其位于旧金山的北美地区总部，把在该市的业务增长3倍。旧金山市驻华办公室在2009年最先将协鑫光伏引入旧金山发展。它是全球最大的多晶硅生产商和太阳能硅片供应商在美的子公司。

 

“协鑫光伏的成功和发展是对卓越，业界领先的清洁能源公司在旧金山地区产生巨大集聚效应的进一步肯定。此外，这也是旧金山市驻华办公室经济发展努力的成果。”李市长评价道。“我们在此诚挚恭祝协鑫光伏落户本市以来所取得的又一个里程碑式的成就。”

 

“通过将我们的北美总部落户于旧金山，我们得以很好的与全球重要的太阳能行业的企业建立联系，以获得深入了解重大的太阳能产业发展的机会，”协鑫光伏的总裁刘玉民先生这样说道。“我们正在不断深耕旧金山和北美市场，我们期待着今后更大的收获。”

 

协鑫光伏将在市场大街1号里建立他们新的总部。旧金山市驻华办公室不仅帮助了协鑫光伏进驻旧金山，而且还将其介绍给了旧金山清洁能源行业的业界领导者们，包括富国银行这样的企业，它也是旧金山市驻华办公室的董事会成员公司。合作甫一建立，协鑫与富国即宣布1亿美金的融资合作，为预计在2011年完成的六项太阳能项目提供资金支持。

 

“今年是旧金山市驻华办公室成立的第三年，它对就业与投资的积极影响将成倍增长。尽管如同协鑫光伏一样，我们引入旧金山的企业都是从小开始起步，但是他们都具有快速发展的能力，”丁估值官评价说，他同时也是旧金山市驻华办公室的咨询委员会主席。“旧金山市驻华办公室祝贺协鑫光伏所取得的成绩。”

 

旧金山市驻华办公室的此次招待会还表彰了Zinch.com，它已经被白宫挑选为旧金山地区的主要合作伙伴，以支持奥巴马总统的10万人留学计划。该计划是奥巴马总统与胡锦涛主席签署的一份协议中的一部分，旨在促进中美两国之间的学生交流活动。美国将推动10万名学生去中国留学，同时中国方面也将选派10万名学生赴美留学。

 

“自从搬到旧金山，倚靠本地出色的人才资源与旧金山和中国之间的文化及地缘亲近的优势，Zinch得以持续不断的发展，” Zinch.com的首席执行官Anne Dwane感叹道。“凭借在中美两国不断增长的商业发展，我们被选中协助奥巴马总统的10万人留学计划，对此我们感到非常激动兴奋。Zinch对帮助更多的学生寻找到去中国学习的机遇充满了激情。提升学生海外留学项目的数量与多样性不仅丰富多彩了教育，而且同时也建立了有意义的，持久文化交流纽带。”

 

“旧金山市驻华办公室一直致力于引入像协鑫光伏和Zinch.com这样的企业，而奠定旧金山市未来经济繁荣的一个不断发展的强大基石也正由此建立中，”旧金山经济发展中心的主席丹尼斯 科纳汉这样评价道。“我们的经济不仅从增加的就业机会中受益，同时这些顶尖公司的引入也加强了我们的行业发展，进一步确立了旧金山在创新产业领域的领导地位。”


关于协鑫光伏

协鑫光伏是保利协鑫能源控股有限公司在美的子公司。保利协鑫是全球最大的多晶硅生产商和太阳能硅片供应商，同时也是中国绿色能源的龙头企业。2010年底其年多晶硅生产能力达到21,000公吨，同时多晶硅产品的质量达到电子级水准。该集团的硅片生产能力在2010年11月底已达到3.5GW。此外，该集团在江苏省徐州市拥有一个20MW光伏电站，这也是目前中国最大的光伏电站。更多有关保利协鑫的信息，请登录该公司网站www.gcl-poly.com.hk查询。

 

如有媒体查询，请电邮Joseph Chow至 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

关于旧金山市驻华办公室

在北京，上海和旧金山都设有办公室，旧金山市驻华办公室是旧金山经济发展中心旗下由政府和企业携手的一个重点项目，由旧金山市长办公室的经济和劳动力发展部给予大力的支持，各行业的精英企业给予资金和咨询支持。其目标主要是吸引和留住来自中国方面对旧金山和湾区的投资与业务拓展，同时帮助旧金山湾区企业在中国的商业发展。