Southern Colorado in running for two large manufacturing plants, including a solar-panel fab

Two large companies, one from India and the other local, received approval for $20.6 million in state economic development incentives on Thursday in return for the construction of manufacturing plants that could employ more than 900 workers in southern Colorado, an area of the state that has struggled economically. The projects were among seven incentive requests worth $38.4 million that the commission approved Thursday from companies looking to bring 1,631 jobs to the state. Project Clear Skies, the code name for a global infrastructure company founded in India in 1988, is considering Pueblo County for what would be the largest build-to-suit solar cell and solar panel manufacturing center in the United States. The company plans to invest $300 million into a new 750,000-square-foot facility, and also is considering locating a 700-megawatt solar power plant nearby. Once it is up and running, the facility will employ 705 full-time workers earning an average annual wage of $52,794. That would help Pueblo, home to a tower manufacturing plant for Danish wind turbine maker Vestas, cement its reputation as a green energy manufacturing hub and draw suppliers to the region, said Michelle Hadwiger, deputy director of the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade. Pueblo must beat out a long list of rival sites located in Texas, South Carolina, New York, New Mexico, Florida and Virginia. The Colorado Economic Development Commission awarded Project Clear Skies $3.5 million from the state’s Strategic Fund, an amount local governments will need to match, in order to sway a decision in Colorado’s favor. Project 5000, the code name given to a Colorado-based holding company that is more than 100 years old, wants to build a $500 million manufacturing plant it needs to launch a new product line. The company received approval for $14.25 million in enterprise-zone tax credits, which are available in the most economically distressed areas of the state. The plant would hire 205 workers earning an average annual wage of $74,450, which made Project 5000 eligible for $2.8 million in job-growth incentive tax credits that were also approved. Project 5000 sought a higher level of secrecy and did not disclose the specific county it is considering. The company also is seeking to take advantage of a change in state law that allows companies to transfer state tax-credit awards, an option helpful to companies that do not make enough income to take advantage of those credits. “It’s the first time the transferable tax credit and waiver of certification has been used,” said Jeff Kraft, the state’s director of business funding and incentives. He added that the company would not have considered Colorado without transferable incentives. Also on Thursday, an award worth $11.1 million in job-growth incentive tax credits went to Project Aloha, a San Jose technology firm that provides cloud-based solutions for incentive compensation and sales performance management. The privately held company already employs 470 people, including 96 in Colorado. It is considering Denver, Austin, Washington, D.C., and Bedford, Mass., for an expansion that would add 479 additional workers earning an average annual wage of $100,939 a year. Smaller awards went to a precision rifle casing maker looking to relocate from Ogden, Utah, to Routt County; an Australian machine-intelligence firm considering Boulder for its first U.S. office; an infrastructure engineering and consulting firm looking to expand in Larimer County and a local aerospace and aviation manufacturing firm looking to add 80 positions in Arapahoe County to the 450 it already has in the state.