The sunrise in Wilsonville was shining a bit brighter this week as unemployed job seekers and local business owners awoke to the welcome news of a new solar energy manufacturing company coming to town, bringing hundreds of new jobs to the community. 

Working late into the night on Monday, the Wilsonville City Council finally voted 4-1 to approve an economic development plan that will enable SoloPower Inc. of San Jose, California to expand and create a manufacturing facility in Oregon.  The long-awaited Council decision came just before midnight, after more than four hours of public testimony and discussion in front of a capacity crowd in Wilsonville’s City Hall.

Oregon’s newest solar energy company is expected to create as many as 270 construction jobs initially and as many as 500 production workers when the plant becomes fully operational in the next five years. 

Business Oregon estimates construction workers earnings will total more than $13 million while the production facility is being renovated.  When the plant becomes fully operational, SoloPower’s Oregon payroll is expected to top $45 million annually.  The state economic development agency has also estimated the new company will help create an additional 1,500 jobs statewide, generating an additional $76 million each year in indirect and induced payroll among suppliers of goods and services.

Negotiations to bring the company to Oregon began last fall and were announced publically in mid-January when state and local officials introduced SoloPower to Oregon and outlined their incentives package with company officials.  The Wilsonville City Council decision on Monday night culminates more than three months of negotiations and public meetings, including an April 4 public hearing where WEA executive director Jonathan Schlueter testified.  That meeting also lasted more than three hours and resulted in a two week delayed vote.

 At the April 4 meeting, Schlueter testified in support of the tax incentives package being offered to SoloPower.  Schlueter said manufacturing employment is key to Oregon's economic recovery, with more than 25 percent of the state's manufacturing jobs located on the Westside of the Portland metropolitan region.  These coveted manufacturing jobs  generate important "multiplier benefits" by creating more jobs, tax revenue and economic activity among suppliers of goods and services to manufacturing businesses such as SoloPower.  To hear Schlueter's views on the importance of manufacturing jobs to Oregon's economy, see his recent interview with Comcast Newsmakers. 

 On Monday night, a second marathon public hearing was held, as the Council listened to testimony from more than 30 witnesses with at least 25 speakers voicing support for the tax incentives plan and the prospect of bringing SoloPower to Wilsonville.  A handful of people raised concerns about using public tax revenue to recruit businesses and threatened to refer the proposal to a vote of the people.

The San Jose based company plans to lease an empty warehouse and distribution facility in Wilsonville, converting it into a $340 million production center for a patented thin film photo voltaic process that is said to be lighter, cheaper and easier to install than other solar energy applications. 

SoloPower has already secured $197 million if federal loan guarantees; $40 million in state loans and energy tax credits; and an additional $150 million in private investment capital to construct the Wilsonville plant.  The local ordinance approved Monday night will provide local property tax incentives to complete the build out.

For notable and quotables from the 4/18 meeting, click here. To hear an interview with Beaverton's Mayor Denny Doyle about the impact of employers on the economy in his town, click here.