Vietnamese solar company to create 900 jobs in Pitt County, the latest clean energy win for NC recruiters - WRAL News

Vietnamese solar company to create 900 jobs in Pitt County, the latest clean energy win for NC recruiters

A Vietnamese solar energy company plans to create 908 jobs in Pitt County as part of a $294 million North American expansion, state economic development officials said Friday.

The jobs at a new manufacturing plant are to be created over several years. The factory is expected to be built by the end of 2027, according to state Commerce Department officials, who discussed the project during a meeting of the department’s Economic Investment Committee.

The average annual salary for the planned positions is expected to be $52,879, state officials said.

Commerce officials approved an incentives package worth up to $16.4 million, including a jobs development grant of up to $8.3 million. The money is paid out in installments if the company hits hiring targets.

The state incentives are in addition to $18 million in county and municipal incentives, officials said. The project is estimated to grow the state’s economy by $3 billion, state officials said.

The company considered locations in Phoenix and Atlanta. It was attracted to Pitt County in part due to the lower cost of real estate, affordable labor costs, infrastructure and incentives, commerce officials said.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

Previous reporting:

State commerce officials are considering an economic incentives package for a company that would bring about 900 jobs to Pitt County, according to people familiar with the deal. It would be the biggest jobs announcement in the state so far this year.

The company, which was not identified, has been the subject of monthslong negotiations with state and local officials as it has decided where to expand, according to these people, who spoke to WRAL News on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it. The company is a manufacturer focused on solar energy, they said.

Economic incentives deals are highly secretive and negotiations are generally exempt from public records laws. Deals are often referred to by code names.

Late last year, the Pitt County Board of Commissioners scheduled a meeting to consider a multimillion-dollar economic incentives deal for a proposal dubbed “Project Gen.” The local incentives being considered were for a company that was planning an investment of about $300 million in the county, according to the county. The company was looking to create 900 jobs in the county over seven years. Average wages for the jobs were expected to earn at or above the county’s average wage.

Pitt County commissioners met in closed session last week to discuss economic development. Details of those discussions were not immediately available.

The North Carolina Department of Commerce’s Economic Investment Committee, which approves economic incentives, is scheduled to meet Friday. The committee is scheduled to discuss one or more economic development proposals, according to a meeting agenda.

Shortly after the meeting, Gov. Roy Cooper is scheduled to make an economic development announcement in the Pitt County city of Greenville.

A spokesman for the state Department of Commerce declined to say whether the two events were related.

It is common for the governor to make economic development announcements shortly after commerce officials approve incentives packages. Those announcements often happen in the counties where the jobs are being created.

Clean energy companies have flocked to North Carolina in recent years due in part to efforts by the state to lure companies in that sector. During Cooper’s two terms, North Carolina has offered at least $3 billion in taxpayer-funded incentives aimed at bringing clean energy manufacturing jobs to the state.

Vietnamese electric vehicle maker VinFast is building a 780,000-square-foot plant in Moncure, where it plans to create thousands of jobs. In 2022, state officials approved $1.2 billion in incentives for the project, which was estimated to grow the state’s economy by at least $71.59 billion over 32 years. The company has since scaled back its initial plans.

In October, Toyota said it would more than double the size of a massive electric vehicle battery factory the automaker has been building in Randolph County. The company’s $14 billion factory, which is between Greensboro and Pittsboro, is expected to eventually employ more than 5,000 people. The state offered hundreds of millions of dollars in incentives for that project — an investment that has spurred residual growth of contractors and services in the area.

A Fujihatsu & Toyotsu Battery Components, a partnership between Fujihatsu Tech America and Toyota Tsusho America, said in February it would create 133 new jobs at a new electric vehicle battery manufacturing facility in Liberty. FTBC is investing $60 million in the project, which will support Toyota’s battery manufacturing unit.

Also in February, Siemens Energy said it plans to add 559 jobs and invest almost $150 million in North Carolina over the next five years. The project — expected to grow the state’s economy by $1.63 billion — would establish in Mecklenburg County the company’s first U.S. manufacturing site for large power transformers, helping the U.S. expand the electrical grid to incorporate more renewable energy. The state approved an economic incentives package worth at least $9.3 million for that expansion.

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Jack Hagel