Specialty materials maker Corning plans to invest up to $900 million to build a solar component manufacturing plant in Richland Township, Michigan, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation announced Feb. 27.
The facility is expected to create over 1,100 jobs and will be operated under Corning’s subsidiary, Solar Technology.
The board of the Michigan Strategic Fund, a state initiative to draw investments to the state, approved over $109.3 million in state incentives to support the project. Funding includes $68 million in workforce development grants, $12.3 in manufacturing property incentives and $29 million for public infrastructure, road improvements and other related expenses.
“These approved incentives helped confirm Michigan as the natural choice for this new endeavor,” Scott Forester, Corning division VP and program executive, solar, said in a statement. “The planned facility will create thousands of local jobs and advance the goal of expanding access to U.S. renewable energy solutions.”
Corning’s latest investment responds to the rising demand for solar energy. In Q3 of last year, the U.S. solar market installed 6.5 gigawatts of direct current capacity, a 35% year-over-year increase, according to a report by Wood Mackenzie and the Solar Energy Industries Association.
Michigan has been making moves to entice more clean energy projects to the state. In August 2023, Plastic Omnium New Energies plans to build a plant in Grand Blanc Township that will design, develop and produce hydrogen storage systems for medium and heavy-duty zero emissions vehicles.
