Solar Panel Plant and Headquarters Could Bring 3,600 Jobs to Florida

'Green energy' facility would increase scientific developments near airport

A solar-equipment manufacturer from Ohio signed a preliminary deal with a local development company Tuesday to build a plant and headquarters just outside Orlando, a project that could create up to 3,600 high-paying jobs by the time it's done in roughly six years, an executive with the firm said.Orange County likely has beaten out -- for now, if not completely -- a number of competing bids from Florida and elsewhere to land the project. A final deal has not been inked, and Willard & Kelsey Solar Group still is negotiating possible incentives from the state and Central Florida government and economic-development officials."We are very interested in Orange County," said Mossie Murphy, the company's chief financial officer said by phone Tuesday. "And we've entered into a preliminary agreement with a development group there."

A lawyer involved in the project, Fred Leonhardt of Orlando's Gray Robinson law firm, said a formal announcement could come within the next week or so but added, "It's not a done deal by any means. "Willard & Kelsey signed its tentative deal with Crockett Development Property, a company with ties to the Tavistock Group, the Orlando Sentinel has learned. Company officials and others with knowledge of the proposed site would not disclose its exact location, but Crockett owns about 238 acres near Orlando International Airport, county records show.Tavistock is the development company behind the Lake Nona community project in southeast Orlando that is set to include scientific and "medical city" research facilities. Already on the way are the new University of Central Florida College of Medicine, the Burnham Institute medical-research hub and Nemours Children's Hospital, among others. Orange County Mayor Rich Crotty spoke confidently about ongoing negotiations but could not go into detail because of confidentiality agreements surrounding pending economic-development projects."I believe it's potentially transformational," said Crotty, pointing to possible research synergies with the medical city and his Innovation Way plan for a homes and jobs corridor between UCF and the airport. "We're pretty excited."

In the project's first phase, worth an estimated $300 million, Willard & Kelsey plans to build a solar-panel manufacturing plant and administrative headquarters that could initially employ up to 800 skilled workers by 2012, Murphy said.The company, whose founding executives grew up professionally in the not-so-obvious solar-research hub of Toledo, Ohio, touts its work with thin-film solar panels that can be used on homes, businesses and for large power-generating facilities.Willard & Kelsey's competitive advantage, Murphy said, is producing low-cost panels that work even in cloudy and cold conditions. Florida officials already awarded the company a $2.5 million competitive grant last month. Ohio officials provided similar incentive help last year for a new research and development project in the company's home state, Murphy said.

In awarding the Florida grant, Gov. Charlie Crist's Energy & Climate Commission pointed to Willard & Kelsey's ability to cut production costs by as much as 50 percent off the industry standard. That state money could possibly pair with some of the federal funds the Obama administration wants to set aside for energy-saving technologies such as solar and wind projects. In his budget, President Barack Obama said his plan could create about 500,000 jobs nationally by making new investments in clean energy.What's unclear is how deep Orange could dig for incentives. The county likely can afford to offer only breaks or deferments on impact fees and tax rebates to close any deal to bring the company here.The solar deal has been evolving over several months in Orange.At points within the past month, Brevard and other counties were still in the running, according to a number of officials who declined to comment.

Commissioner Linda Stewart, whose southeast Orange district could host the project, said she urged the company to come here months ago and was buoyed by Tuesday's positive remarks from a top executive."This is exactly where we need to be," Stewart said, comparing the project's possible arrival to Burnham's decision to come to Central Florida. "We need to be a green city, and this could be a green anchor."