Abound Energy to Purchase Getrag Plant in Tipton to Manufacture Solar Panels

From Indiana Economic Digest

7/4/2010 12:54:00 PM

Solar company bringing 850 jobs to empty Tipton County's Getrag plant by 2013

Ken de la Bastide, Kokomo Tribune Enterprise Editor

Tipton — The vacant Getrag Transmission plant on U.S. 31 in Tipton County has a new tenant that will bring 850 jobs to the region by 2013.

President Barack Obama announced Saturday that Colorado-based Abound Solar was given a $400 million loan guarantee from the Department of Energy to expand its operations in Longmont, Colo., and to purchase the Getrag building.

During his weekly radio address, Obama announced $1.85 billion in loan guarantees to two companies. The first went to Abengoa Solar, which will receive $1.45 billion to build a solar plant in Arizona.

“The second company is Abound Solar Manufacturing, which will manufacture advanced solar panels at two new plants, creating more than 2,000 construction jobs and 1,500 permanent jobs,” Obama said. “A Colorado plant is already under way, and an Indiana plant will be built in what’s now an empty Chrysler [Getrag] factory. When fully operational, these plants will produce millions of state-of-the-art solar panels each year.”

Abound Solar is expected to provide up to 1,200 jobs when the plant is in full operation. The company makes state-of-the-art solar panels, which are sold for industrial and commercial applications with a large market in Europe.

The company has been negotiating with Tipton County officials for approximately nine months to bring the company to the region.

The Indiana Economic Development Corp. has worked alongside the Tipton County Commissioners, the Indiana Secretary of State’s office and the U.S. Department of Energy to assist Abound Solar in finalizing its purchase of the more than 800,000 square-foot facility. The move represents a more than $500 million investment in machinery, equipment and building improvements.

“While the loss of Getrag was disappointing after so much work, the region will now add 850 new jobs — what a great way to celebrate Independence Day,” said Gov. Mitch Daniels in a press release.

A new partnership

Abound Solar’s thin-film photovoltaic module manufacturing technology was born out of Colorado State University in the late 1980s. The company, which also has production operations in Longmont, Colo., expects the Tipton site, when complete, will be the largest solar panel manufacturing facility in the U.S., producing millions of panels annually.

“State and local representatives from Indiana were particularly instrumental in our efforts to finalize plans for this state-of-the-art facility and create high-paying jobs for Hoosier workers,” said Steve Abely, Abound Solar chief financial officer. “We are excited about the opportunity to make America a global driver of renewable, affordable and abundant solar energy.”

The company intends to hire for positions such as engineers, technicians and production associates once facility renovations begin.

“The addition of solar panel manufacturing builds on Indiana’s strong clean-tech energy sector and provides many new opportunities to the Tipton community,” said Mitch Roob, secretary of commerce and chief executive officer of the Indiana Economic Development Corp.

Roob said Saturday that talks with the company have been ongoing for 18 months.

“This is a terrific deal,” he said, noting most of the proceeds from the sale of the building will go to contractors who weren’t paid when Getrag filed for bankruptcy protection in 2009.

“We worked hard on the bankruptcy,” Roob said. “The governor wanted to make sure we worked with the contractors. This is not perfect, but we’re pleased with the outcome.”

Roob said the Tipton location met all the criteria Abound Solar was looking for. The building was designed for high tech manufacturing, ready to move in and could address the needs of new environmental issues.

“There is no timetable for them to move in,” he said. “We worked on this a long time. This was a large transaction and the federal government wanted to be sure the technology was plausible.”

Sealing the deal

The IEDC offered Abound Solar up to $11.85 million in performance-based tax credits and $250,000 in training grants based on the company’s job creation plans and will also provide workforce and ombudsman assistance. Tipton County has approved additional incentives, including tax abatement for the company along with tax increment financing dollars to the land trust that owns the building.

The Getrag plant was being constructed as a joint venture between Chrysler and Germany’s Getrag Transmission LLC. The plant was expected to provide up to 800 jobs, but with construction not complete in 2008, Chrysler pulled out of the agreement and filed a lawsuit against Getrag.

The bankruptcy court put the sale of the building in the hands of a trust, which represented several contractors who were unpaid for work performed at the Tipton site. The trust had until September to sell the building.

Tipton County officials provided $13 million as an incentive to lower the cost of the building to Abound Solar.

Tipton County Commissioner Jane Harper said Abound Solar selected Tipton County last September when it applied for the Department of Energy loan.

“I have been working toward the goal of bringing Abound Solar job opportunities to Tipton since April 30, 2009,” Harper, president of the Tipton County Redevelopment Commission, said Saturday. “It has been a long nine months anxiously awaiting the DOE’s decision and I am happy to finally hear the great news. Individuals from the local, state and federal levels all played a specific role in arriving at this juncture.”

Benefits of going green

Harper said Abound Solar is a perfect fit for Tipton County, which will pair superior crop production on re-usable land with “green” manufacturing in a unique form of economic development.

“With our predominant agricultural base, the establishment of Abound Solar at the crossroads of our community and three wind-energy companies with plans to place wind farms in our county, we can create a unique marketing opportunity in selling Tipton County and its products as the ‘green’ capital,” she said. “This combination of distinct resources will perhaps make us the only county in the nation that is prosperous from within.”

Ken Ziegler, president of the Tipton County Commissioners, said Abound Solar’s advanced manufacturing process will bring jobs to Tipton County residents, increase the county’s tax base and allow even more opportunities for additional industrial and commercial development in the county.

“State and county officials have worked for over a year with this company,” he said. “We are grateful that our efforts have paid off, and want to thank all involved that have helped get us to this announcement today. It was a huge team effort and it was worth all the time and energy it took.”


© 2010 Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc.

Feds, state announce plans for Tipton solar-panel plant
Indianapolis Star report
Posted: July 3, 2010

Colorado-based Abound Solar will invest $500 million in an unfinished Tipton, Ind., plant that had once been set for making cars.
The unfinished plant will become a solar-panel manufacturing facility with the help of a $400 million loan guarantee, the state and federal government announced today.

Abound Solar could employ up to 850 people by 2013 at the 800,000-square-foot plant at Ind. 28 and U.S. 31 in Tipton County.

The solar company got its start at Colorado State University. The $400 million federal loan guarantee is expected to create 1,500 permanent jobs in Colorado and Indiana. The loan guarantee is part of nearly $2 billion in stimulus funds approved by the U.S. Department of Energy to Longmont, Colo.-based Abound and Abengoa Solar Inc., President Barack Obama said today in a weekly radio address.
"What a great way to celebrate Independence Day," said Gov. Mitch Daniels in a statement issued today by the Indiana Economic Development Corp. he heads.

Federal loan guarantees help companies gain access to capital from a financial sector that’s still reluctant to lend. They remove the risks for lenders.

The state agency said it has offered Abound Solar up to $11.85 million in performance-based tax breaks and $250,000 in training grants. Also, Tipton County officials approved additional incentives.

The announcement of a solar-panel maker in the plant had been made previously, although the name of the company involved and the amount to be invested in the plant had not been released. Officials in the central Indiana county, north of Indianapolis, in May approved a $13 million incentive package that they hoped would attract the solar panel maker to the sprawling factory that a Chrysler supplier stopped building in 2008. German auto parts maker Getrag had planned it as a 1,400-worker transmission factory.

"State and local representatives from Indiana were particularly instrumental in our efforts to finalize plans for this state-of-the-art facility and create high-paying jobs for Hoosier workers," said Steve Abely, Abound Solar's chief financial officer, in a news release from the state. "We are excited about the opportunity to make America a global driver of renewable, affordable and abundant solar energy."

Indiana officials involved in the effort over the past year included U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind.; the Tipton County Board of Commissioners; several Indiana congressmen; and representatives of the secretary of state's office, the release said.

No salary amounts were included in the release, but the company plans to hire positions such as engineers, technicians and production workers.

"The advanced manufacturing process of this new business will bring jobs to Tipton County residents, increase our tax base and allow even more opportunities for additional industrial and commercial development in our county," said Ken Ziegler, president of the county commissioners, in the release.

Tipton County's unemployment rate of 10.4 percent in May was above the state rate of 10 percent and the national rate of 9.7 percent. The Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday the nation's jobless rate dropped to 9.5 percent last month, but June's rates in Indiana are not due out until July 20.

President Obama said the $1.85 billion in loan guarantees to Abengoa SA's Abengoa Solar unit and Abound Solar Inc. will be used to build sun-powered facilities in the U.S. and will create thousands of new jobs.

In his weekly address, Obama said the money from the Department of Energy will help the U.S. transition to a "clean energy economy" that creates hundreds of thousands of jobs in the future.

"We're going to keep competing aggressively to make sure the jobs and industries of the future are taking root right here in America," Obama said.

The loan guarantees will come from money in the $862 billion economic stimulus program enacted early last year, according to Bloomberg News. Obama announced the funding the day after government figures showed private employers adding fewer workers than forecast in June, reinforcing concerns the economic recovery will weaken.

"The recession from which we're emerging has left us in a hole that's about 8 million jobs deep," Obama said. "And as I've said from the day I took office, it's going to take months, even years, to dig our way out."
Abengoa Solar, a unit of the Seville, Spain-based engineering company, will receive a $1.45 billion loan guarantee to build a solar-power plant in Arizona that will create 1,600 construction jobs and 85 permanent jobs, according to White House documents released in conjunction with Obama's address.

The power plant will be the first of its kind in the U.S. and generate enough energy to power 70,000 homes, Obama said.

Press Release of Senator Lugar
Lugar welcomes solar grant for Tipton

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

U.S. Senator Dick Lugar today welcomed the announcement by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) of a loan guarantee for a Colorado-based company to manufacture solar panels in Tipton, Indiana.

The DOE informed Lugar that it will make a conditional commitment of $400 million to Abound Solar Manufacturing, LLC, based in Lakewood, Colorado. According to the DOE, the company will manufacture state-of-the-art thin-film solar panels. This will be the first time this technology is deployed commercially anywhere in the world. The project includes two facilities, one in Longmont, Colorado and the other in Tipton, Indiana. The Indiana facility will occupy a new factory originally constructed for Getrag, a Chrysler auto parts supplier that was never able to move in due to the economic downturn.

When fully operational, the company will produce millions of solar panels annually, the DOE informed Lugar. The panels can be produced at a lower cost than crystalline silicon modules and emit less greenhouse gas emissions compared to existing solar panel manufacturers. The project’s initial annual production of panels will be able to produce 840 megawatts (MW) of power. With future panel efficiency improvements, that number could increase up to 1,100 MW. The project is expected to reach full capacity by 2013.

“I am very pleased to learn that the Department of Energy has approved this loan guarantee which will advance Abound’s plans to manufacture these innovative solar panels in Indiana,” Lugar said. “I am encouraged that the hard work of Tipton County local officials, and the State of Indiana’s Economic Development Corporation, has garnered Indiana a new corporate manufacturer. I believe that this investment bodes very well for future employment and renewable energy sales opportunities from this innovative company.”

The Abound loan application was strongly endorsed by the Indiana Congressional Delegation in a letter of support in October 2009.


These articles brought to you by the Indiana Renewable Energy Association.