Solar Panel Factory To Be Built in Navy Yard
I’ve read an article in The Philadelphia Inquirer recently, about how many people are expecting the Gov. Rendell to announce, on Monday, the interest of a solar panel company from Greece to construct a production facility in Philadelphia. The factory will be set at the Navy Yard. The officials say the news is a big step in the town’s positioning as a good player in emerging clean energy solutions. At this plant almost 500 people will be receiving a job.
Most of the jobs at the Heliotechniki plant will be in “advanced manufacturing”. “The facility will have about 450,000 square feet and it will spread on 40 acres right in the center of the big Navy Yard. Sure, it will take some years to place everything together” Longstreth explains.
The project will be set up in about 6 months and it is named, unofficial, the “Project Helios”. In the Greek mythology Helios is the personification of the sun god.
The Greek company is called Heliotechniki S.A. and they have been on the market since 1998. “It’s a very significant new project,” explained Peter S. Longstreth, president of the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corp., the person that manages the Navy Yard, on the city’s behalf. Longstreth has pulled all the things together and contributed a lot to the project. Governor’s officials say Rendell is still reluctant to make the news official, until the conference at 1 p.m. Monday.
Right now details about the involvement of local and state finances are being negotiated. Comparing it to other plants, this new one will be between the 350,000-square-foot Tasty Baking Co. bakery and the 800,000-square-foot Aker shipyard operation.
“There are also a lot of manufacturers that are getting away from US and moving to cheaper labor force countries like China. But we also need to invest in US economy and keep in strong” Costanza adds. The labor leaders say that they are pleased with the amount of union jobs created. “It’s wonderful,” says Patrick B. Gillespie, the business manager of the Building & Construction Trades Council. He says that anything generating commerce and trade will be beneficial for the area.
