Georgia-based Suniva Inc. plans to invest $250 million in a new solar manufacturing facility in Saginaw County, Michigan, according to an announcement made Tuesday by Michigan governor Jennifer M. Granholm.
A timeline was not given for the project, and planned production capacity was not announced. However, the facility is expected to create 500 solar jobs over the next five years subject to receiving a Department of Energy loan guarantee, for which the company recently applied.
Suniva Inc. currently manufactures and markets photovoltaic cells made in Georgia. In August, the company announced plans to triple production capacity to 100 megawatts (MW) in the southern state. Suniva’s investors include NEA, Warburg Pincus, and Goldman Sachs.
The Michigan Economic Growth Authority (MEGA), on Michigan Economic Development Corporation recommendation (MEDC), approved a photovoltaic Michigan Business Tax (MBT) credit valued at $15 million over five years. Michigan’s photovoltaic MBT credit provides a refundable tax credit for the construction and operation of a facility that develops and manufactures photovoltaic technology, photovoltaic systems or photovoltaic energy. Other state and local incentives will be considered at a future date.
In other MEGA action, the board today approved incentives to move forward the Wixom transformation project announced last month. Clairvoyant Energy Solar Panel Manufacturing Inc. was granted a photovoltaic MBT credit valued at $25 million over two years, and Xtreme Power Inc. received an advanced-battery credit valued at $100 million over four years.
Clairvoyant Energy and Xtreme Power plan investments of $857 million (over four phases) and $475 million, respectively, to redevelop the 320-acre plant site and its 4.7 million square feet of building space to manufacture solar power (Clairvoyant Energy) and energy-storage systems (Xtreme Power). The redevelopment work at the Wixom site is expected to begin early next year with manufacturing at the site slated to begin in late 2011.
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