Home > About BNE > Press Room > 2009 Archive > July > Plans for $200M solar plant in Buffalo Niagara

California company plans $200M solar plant

Business First of Buffalo - by David Bertola

A San Francisco-based company has been allocated five megawatts of low-cost hydropower to encourage the construction and operation of a $200 million solar panel manufacturing plant in Western New York.

The new facility for Sunworks Solar LLC would create an estimated 175 permanent clean-energy jobs and 300 construction jobs. The location of the operation has not been determined.

The allocation was voted on by the New York Power Authority board of trustees, which met Tuesday at NYPA’s Niagara Power Project Power Vista in Lewiston.

When completed, the facility would manufacture ready-to-deploy solar panels for commercial, government and utility solar markets.

Sunworks Solar considers low-cost electricity critical for managing its costs in competing with offshore manufacturers that also are engaged in solar panel production.

“We are pleased to partner with NYPA as we work towards building a solar panel manufacturing facility in Western New York,” said Sunworks CEO Brian Robertson, adding the low-cost hydropower attracted his company to consider the investment in the region.

Although the company has been considering multiple sites in the Northeast for a new facility, it has indicated Western New York is an optimal location because of the region’s proximity to fast growing markets.

“This is another example of how NYPA resources are strategically used to both advance the growth of the clean energy sector in New York State and to help stimulate the Western New York economy,” said NYPA President and CEO Richard Kessel.

Sunworks Solar estimates a facility in Western New York could eventually result in as many as 1,300 jobs in various parts of the state, including supply chain support, as well as jobs related to the installation and maintenance of its solar panels.

Buffalo Niagara Enterprise President and Chief Executive Officer Thomas Kucharski called the hydropower allocation the cornerstone of his agency’s efforts to bring Sunworks Solar to Western New York.

“(The allocation) will keep us on track in working with Sunworks to keep the cost of production globally competitive, and in identifying a suitable Western New York site for the facility’s construction and operation,” Kucharski said.

Although plans are still being finalized, construction could begin as early as the spring of 2010 and be completed by the summer of 2011.