Michigan-based Hemlock Semiconductors announced yesterday that it’s expanding its Michigan production facility and opening a new one in Clarksville. Despite projections predicting next year’s budget could be as much as a billion dollars short, Governor Phil Bredesen says the incentive package offered is worth it.
The state of Tennessee will spend about 100-million dollars in infrastructure development for the Hemlock site. The company makes a chemical compound used in household electronics like cell phones and computers but it’s also a key building block for solar panels.
The company says demand for solar panels has been growing by about 30% to 40% per year. Bredesen says renewable energy technologies will strengthen the state’s economy down the line.
“What I’m trying to do with Tennessee is say, ‘Yes, I know things are tough and yes, I know there are some choices we are going to have to make, but we need to make sure we’re continuing to invest in the future.”
The new facility will initially employ 500 people when it opens in 2012. Hemlock, a subsidiary of Dow Corning, expects to spend about 1.2 billion dollars on the Clarksville facility, but it could be as much as 3-billion if it expands.
Making renewable energy does take energy, though. Hemlock President Rick Doornbos says access to relatively cheap power was one of the key reasons for selecting Tennessee. He says producing the compound, polisilicon, does require a lot of electricity.
“However once the polisilicon is converted into a solar panel, and again, depending on the region of the world where it’s installed it will generate anywhere from 8 to 15 times the energy that was used to produce it.”
The legislature will have to approve the infrastructure package as part of the budget process next year.
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