Potential City of Austin Jobs Go to Phoenix

About 300 positions that could have become City of Austin jobs are now slated to become City of Phoenix jobs.

The Department of Energy recently announced that Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. Ltd. will be awarded $4.5 million to build a photovoltaic panel manufacturing plant in Phoenix, the company's first plant in the United States. Yingli is the second-largest solar company in China.

The $4.5 million will come in the form of a tax credit. In order to receive that credit, the company must first build a facility in the city. If any "change that a reasonable person would conclude might have influenced DOE in recommending or ranking the project" is made, the awards automatically become void.

According to an article by the Austin Business Journal, many officials were expecting the plant to be built in Austin, until the DOE announced that the applications filled out by Yingli during October 2009 stated the company planned to build the new facility in Phoenix.

Yingli was previously considering five cities as a home for its new plant, including Austin and San Antonio. Company officials have stated the plant would cost about $20 million, while Dow Jones has reported it will cost about $50 million.

Although this is bad news for Austin, Yingli's decision marks the second time in four months that the State of Arizona has landed a major foreign solar company over Austin, which has been struggling to attract clean-tech businesses as of late.

Suntech Power Holdings Co., which is the largest solar company in China, announced at the end of last year that the company would open a new manufacturing plant in Phoenix. Although Austin made a substantial effort to attract Suntech, sources say company officials were not impressed enough to build their plant in the city.