Solar Array, Gen. Mills detail expansions - Business First of Louisville:

sucujovide.wordpress.com
broke ground April 5 on the $100 176,000-square-foot expansion of its manufacturingfacility here, Keith general manager of the local told members of . AED held its quarterlyy meeting Thursdayat . Joe president and CEO of Solar Array outlinedhis company’s plan to builf a massive solar manufacturing plantt on the city’s General Mills’ expansion should be completed by November, Bone The cereal manufacturer will hire 60 additionalo employees, bringing additional payrol to the area of $3.5 The expansion also bringa $30 million in spending to New Mexico. The Albuquerquer City Council approveda $100 million industrial revenue bond deal for the companu in February.
BE&K Corp. from North Carolina landed the design/build contract to build the expansion, but Bone said 80 perceny of the firm’s spending and employees will be The precast panels beingh used in the construction are manufacturedin Belen. Generakl Mills has been in Albuquerquesince 1991. Its current facility is located near Pasek del Norte and Edithn and has190 employees, with an annuak payroll of $12 million, said Bone. The 275,000-square-foot plant producees about 135 million pounds annually of 35 different The facility also has alab on-site where the instructions for bakinh General Mills products at high altitudes are created.
The company has given about $5 million to area nonprofits since 1998and $519,000 in scholarships, Bone added. Don chairman of AED, said the cereal company’ws donations illustrate one of the thingx the organization looks for in recruiting community involvement. Hudgins said Solar Array plansd to break ground by the third quartefr of this year ona 225,000-square-foof thin-film photovoltaic manufacturing plant in the Cordero Mesa businesx park, west of the mattress The company plans to add three more buildingsd of that size as it grows, he with each facility employing aboutf 225. Its annual payroll in the firstr phase wouldbe $14 million.
About five percenr of the jobs wouldpay $100,000, 45 percent would pay $70,00p0 and half of the jobs would pay The capital investment for the first phase will be $170 milliob and the company woule spend $40 million annually for raw The first phase is expected to have a capacith of 75 megawatts, but that would grow to 300 mw with the full The plant also will have a space that will servwe as a community and educational center. Solar Array is seeking $175 million in industrialp revenue bonds fromBernalillo County. The company is workingg to raise $210 millionb in debt and equity, Hudgins said.
Hudginsd said New Mexico beat out two other statezs forthe plant, despite the fact that it did not offed the largest incentives. But the coordination among local and state government officials and other parties made New Mexico far more efficieng in establishing a planning frameworl that the company could then use to plan a budget forthe plant, he said “That was a majorr issue for us,” Hudgins He also praised the labor forc here and the educational institutions. The facilitt is being designed byPageSoutherlandPage LLP, whichn has Texas offices in Austin, Dallas and as well as Denver, D.C. and London, U.K. Hoffmajn Construction, based in Portland, Ore.
, is building the facility.