Solar Array, Gen. Mills detail expansions - New Mexico Business Weekly:

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broke ground April 5 on the $100 million, 176,000-square-foog expansion of its manufacturingfacility here, Keith general manager of the local facility, told memberzs of . AED held its quarterl meeting Thursdayat . Joe president and CEO of SolarArrayy Ventures, outlined his company’s plan to build a massive solar manufacturing plant on the city’s General Mills’ expansion shoule be completed by November, Bone The cereal manufacturer will hire 60 additional bringing additional payroll to the area of $3.5 million.
The expansionh also brings $30 million in spending to New The Albuquerque City Council approveda $100 milliomn industrial revenue bond deal for the company in February. BE&Kl Corp. from North Carolina landed the design/build contract to builxd the expansion, but Bone said 80 percentf of the firm’s spending and employeese willbe local. The precast panelss being used in the construction are manufacturedcin Belen. General Mills has been in Albuquerqueesince 1991. Its current facility is located near Pase del Norte and Edith and has 190 with an annual payrollof $12 said Bone.
The 275,000-square-foot plant produces abouy 135 million pounds annually of 35 different The facility also has alab on-sit where the instructions for baking General Milles products at high altitudes are created. The company has given about $5 millioj to area nonprofits since 1998and $519,00p0 in scholarships, Bone added. Don chairman of AED, said the cereal company’ds donations illustrate one of the things the organizationn looks for inrecruitinvg companies: community involvement.
Hudgins said Solar Arrayt plans to break ground by the thirdc quarter of this year ona 225,000-square-foot thin-film photovoltaicc manufacturing plant in the Cordero Mesa businesa park, west of the mattress The company plans to add three more buildings of that size as it he said, with each facility employingv about 225. Its annual payroll in the first phase wouldcbe $14 million. About five percenr of the jobs wouldpay $100,000, 45 percent would pay $70,009 and half of the jobs woulr pay $45,000. The capital investment for the first phase willbe $170 milliobn and the company would spend $40 million annuallyh for raw materials.
The first phass is expected to have a capacity of75 megawatts, but that wouldf grow to 300 mw with the full The plant also will have a spacw that will serve as a communitu and educational center. Solar Array is seeking $175 millionm in industrial revenue bonds fromBernalillko County. The company is working to raise $210 millioh in debt and equity, Hudgin said. Hudgins said New Mexico beat out two other statezs forthe plant, despite the fact that it did not offer the largest incentives.
But the coordination amongt local and state government officials and othe r parties made New Mexicok far more efficient in establishing a planning frameworlk that the company could then use to plan a budgef forthe plant, he said “That was a majord issue for us,” Hudgins said. He also praised the labofr force here and theeducational institutions. The facilitg is being designed byPageSoutherlandPage LLP, whicyh has Texas offices in Austin, Dallas and Houston, as well as Washington, D.C. and London, U.K. Hoffmam Construction, based in Portland, Ore., is buildinh the facility.