A massive solar project in Texas, a steel processing plant in South Carolina and another reshoring project, this one in Louisiana, top the week’s site selection and investment announcements:
In Texas, more than 800 jobs are being created by a deal between CPS Energy and OCI Solar Power that will result in the construction of 400 megawatts of solar energy and bring several manufacturing facilities that produce solar panel components to San Antonio. The San Antonio project is the largest in the nation among municipal utilities, and will catapult Texas into the top five U.S. solar producing states.
In another example of reshoring, Methanex will relocate a methanol production plant from Chile to a 225-acre site in Geismar, La. Canada-based Methanex Corp. will spend $550 million on the project, which will give the company its first U.S.-based methanol production facility in more than a decade. The new plant will create 130 new jobs.
Also in the Bayou State, Ameritas Technologies will open an information technology center to provide IT services in downtown Baton Rouge. The center will create 300 new jobs.
In North Carolina, NetApp, one of the largest providers of storage and data management solutions, will expand its Wake County operations. The company plans to create 460 new jobs over four years and invest more than $75 million into a new R & D facility in Research Triangle Park.
Gonvarri Steel Services, a provider of steel processing to manufacturers, plans to locate its new production plant in Union County in South Carolina. The initial $35 million investment is expected to generate 40 new jobs, with an additional $15 million investment and 25 jobs created over the next 10 years.
In Kansas, GE Capital Bank is locating a call center in Merriam in Johnson County. The new center, which will take 25,000 square feet, is expected to employ 150 people in two phases and will become operational this fall.
In Kentucky, specialty pharma company OrionRx LLC will invest $1.2 million in the state to locate its corporate headquarters in Louisville, creating 14 jobs. Formed in 1995, Orion will establish a 5,000-square-foot corporate headquarters that will service existing locations in Tennessee and Ohio, which provide long-term care communities with pharmaceutical services.
