Centron Solar settled on its name only last month and leased a 25,000-square-foot warehouse within two weeks. It received its $1 million, first shipment of solar panels from China a week ago.

Does Centron represent an emerging business model in the growing U.S. market? The Oregonian ran an interesting story about Centron, which was started by a former Solarfun executive and imports solar panels made by a cluster of companies near Shanghai. These companies produce different components, assemble them into panels and market them under the Centron brand.

The startup claims it could undercut competitors by pricing its panels at least 10 percent cheaper.

The founder, Ocean Yuan, was the president of the U.S. operation of China-based Solarfun until March this year. Yuan moved to Eugene nearly 20 years ago, but lived in China for a long stretch during that time.

Centron sprung up so quickly that its emergence apparently surprised Oregon's economic development officials and SolarWorld, the German company with a large factory in that state, according to the Oregonian.

Yuan said he plans to set up panel assembly factories in the United States in the next few years.