United Solar Ovonic LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Energy Conversion Devices Inc. of Rochester Hills (ECD Ovonics), plans to build a new, high-tech Ovonic solar cell manufacturing facility in Greenville, Mich.
The project will create up to 563 jobs, including 200 directly by the company, within the next five years. This project paves the way for the potential of five more plants and up to 1,000 additional jobs in Michigan. MEDC assistance helped convince the company to choose Greenville over a competing site in South Carolina.
The planned location for United Solar's new plant in Greenville is an extended portion of the Greenville Industrial Park.
The Michigan Economic Development Corp. approved a Single Business Tax credit valued at $5.7 million over 20 years to win the company’s business. A $5 million federal Community Development Block Grant approved by the MEDC and awarded to the city of Greenville will fund needed infrastructure improvements to support the new plant.
The city has proposed a tax abatement valued at approximately $3.6 million over 12 years for the project. The MEDC and city are expected to support a 15-year, tax-free Renaissance Zone for the site, worth an additional $20.4 million to the company. With additional funding for training assistance, the state and local incentive package totals approximately $37 million for the 50 megawatt (MW) expansion.
State and local governments are also providing United Solar Ovonic with additional incentives to invest up to an additional $600 million for up to five more plants in Greenville and up to 1,000 new jobs.
ECD Ovonics and United Solar Ovonic hold the basic patents for the production process and equipment which is the world’s largest and most advanced for the manufacture of thin film amorphous silicon alloy solar cells and related products. These products are used for a variety of applications to convert sunlight into electrical energy, ranging from large solar farms for utility-scale applications to battery chargers for solar lanterns.
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