LAKE KATRINE--New solar manufacturer Solartech Renewables, joined by Congressman Maurice Hinchey, state Assemblyman Kevin Cahill, and The Solar Energy Consortium (TSEC), announced the company’s plan to open a new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility at TechCity, as a result of a $5 million package of state and federal incentives. The company said it will produce both standard and improved polycrystalline silicon solar panels and is expected to create 100 jobs within a year.
Solartech Renewables, backed by private equity funds, was formed in July, 2009 specifically for this project, its Chairman and CEO Todd Roberts told Hudson Valley Green Sheet. "We feel we’ve identified a niche," in industrial solar panel production, he said. "We’re the only U.S.-owned [solar panel] manufacturer directed to commercial markets" and the only solar panel producer on the East Coast. Other solar companies have moved or announced plans to move production overseas, he said, to take advantage of lower-cost labor.
Roberts said a key factor in the decision to locate at TechCity was the "clustering" of solar technology companies on the campus and in the Hudson Valley. He sees the potential to tap local commercial markets for its product.
This move was made possible by various state, federal, and private stakeholders, including Cahill (D-Ulster/Dutchess), chair of the Assembly Energy Committee, Hinchey, Ulster County Executive Mike Hein, TSEC, New York State Energy and Research Development Authority, Empire State Development Corp., and others.
TSEC has been instrumental in bringing solar companies to the Hudson Valley and provided $600,000 of federal funding secured by Hinchey for this move. Solartech Renewables also secured $1.5 million in incentives from NYSERDA, and $3.5 million in economic development incentives and loans.
"Landing Solartech Renewables is a big win for the region and an important step in our efforts to create a new energy economy here in New York," Cahill said.
TechCity, the former IBM plant in the Town of Ulster, houses several other solar and renewable energy firms and has positioned itself as a hub for high-tech green industries.
Solartech Renewables will begin hiring and training technicians in May and expects to have its first production line operating by the end of summer or early fall, Roberts said. Initially the plant will have the capacity to produce 55,000 solar panels (to produce 12 megawatts) per year, but is expected to expand capacity by 2012, he said.
Prior to this, Roberts was in venture capital and investment banking, he said.
Source: Solartech Renewables
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