(FORTUNE Small Business) – Solar power may become yet another U.S. innovation--like televisions and Jerry Lewis fan clubs--perfected on foreign soil. This summer Evergreen Solar, a leading U.S. manufacturer of solar cells, broke ground on a $79 million factory, 80 miles southwest of Berlin, with the German government providing 45% of the cost. The company expects the plant's production will eventually grow to ten times that of its original factory in Marlboro, Mass. Richard Chleboski, Evergreen's co-founder and CFO, says that despite Germany's reputation for costly labor and red tape, the country offers "everything we want"--including generous government incentives for private businesses and residences to install solar-power systems. Germany already accounts for 70% of Evergreen's sales. "We would have much rather done this in the U.S.," Chleboski says of his new factory and the jobs it is creating, "but this is the right thing for Evergreen to do." --KEN STIER