Thursday, December 16, 2010

Indiana to Open Solar Module Manufacturing Plant

Loveland-based Abound Solar has leased a 781,750-square-foot facility in Tipton, Ind., where it will establish a solar module manufacturing plant, the company said Tuesday.

Once refurbished, the plant will be the largest such facility in the U.S.

The company finalized the lease after closing on a $400 million loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy and a $110 million equity investment, both announced previously.

The Associated Press reported last summer that Abound said it wouldn’t start hiring workers for its Indiana factory until it ramped up production at its Colorado facility.

A company spokesman said last month that Abound employs about 350 people at its manufacturing plant east of Longmont and plans to triple the size of that facility in the next few years.

The plant, on the Interstate 25 Frontage Road with a Longmont mailing address, last month leased 37,000 square feet at 2950 Colorful Ave. in Longmont. It will assemble equipment for its solar modules at that location, with up to 10 employees.

The Indiana facility recently was bought by an investment group led by Boulder-based W.W. Reynolds Cos.

The company’s administrative office is in Centerra in east Loveland, and it also has a research and development lab in Fort Collins.

SOURCE

3 comments:

Suzanne said...

I'm in Indiana and hadn't heard about this. Tipton is a very small town. I think around 5,000 people and the whole area around has had some hard times. I just did a search on your information and found an article saying there may be 1,200 jobs by 2012. This is very welcome news! I also see a couple of other articles you posted about Indiana that I missed somehow. Thank you so much for your blog -- I love it.

Rob_blog said...

What is the name of the company coming in? Is it Dow, REC, etc?

I am an environmental professional looking for work, either construction to direct hire, or direct hire.

Rob_blog said...

I am environmentalist by trade and have worked in the petro chemical industry making solar grade silicon. I am very interested in more information on this company. Please post more. Thank you.

Chip