U.S. President Barack Obama announced on Sunday the Department of Energy will apportion close to USD $2 billion in conditional commitments to two solar power companies.
Abengoa Solar will be constructing one of the world’s largest solar farms in Arizona. The 250-megawatt Solana facility is expected to produce enough clean energy for 70000 households. The construction of Solana will commence this year and will come online in 2013. The project will create around 1,600 construction jobs with over 70 percent of the construction components and products manufactured locally.
The other company to benefit from the cash splash is Abound Solar Manufacturing, which will build two new plants manufacturing thin film solar panels in Colorado and Indiana. The Colorado factory will double its workforce and more than triple its manufacturing capacity to 200 megawatts annually. The Indiana facility will add 700 megawatts by 2014 and will be located in a factory originally built for an auto parts supplier.
Combined, the projects will create more than 2,000 construction jobs and over 1,500 permanent jobs.
In his weekly address, Obama referred to the “payoff” already being seen through investment in clean energy under the USA’s Recovery Act; legislation originally designed to help combat the effects of the global financial crisis.
“I’ve seen once-shuttered factories humming with new workers who are building solar panels and wind turbines; rolling up their sleeves to help America win the race for the clean energy economy.”
