A consortium of 30 Chinese solar panel companies has announced that it will be setting up a new sales hub in the United States; details of these companies and the output of the consortium as a whole have not been disclosed.

According to the Register-Guard, the group, collectively known as "Centron Solar," has leased a 25,000sqf warehouse in west Eugene, Oregon. Centron Solar brings with it 10 high-level managers as well as ambitious plans to expand to around 250 new employees in a year.

Ocean Yuan, the group's president, said that he also had plans to set up a couple of assembly lines in this area which would create around 50 jobs.

According to Yuan, the incentive for the group's members, who are manufacturers with proven technologies, was to take advantage of the vast potential market for affordable solar panels in the US.

Centron Solar moved into its Eugene facility two weeks ago.

"We want to build our manufacturing facilities closer to the customer," Yuan said.

Centron Solar plans to formally announce its launch at the InterSolar 2009 trade show next week in San Francisco.