Legislation has been filed for what appears to be nearly $54 million in public incentives to lure a solar company to Jacksonville.
The city isn’t divulging the name of the company, which is currently being referred to as Project Volt.
The city’s proposal describes the company as a leading international manufacturer of solar panels and modules that has a broad utility, commercial and residential customer base on a worldwide level.
Volt is proposing to create up to 800 new jobs in Jacksonville by the end of 2019 with an average wage of $46,346, according to the city’s project summary.
The summary also says Volt would invest $410 million in Jacksonville. The proposal calls for Volt to lease two existing Jacksonville warehouses.
Main manufacturing would be done in a recently built speculative building at 4660 New World Ave. at the Cecil Commerce Center.
The second building at 2969 Faye Road would house Volt’s solar panel assembly facility and distribution operation.
Project Volt would use JAXPORT for importing and exporting, with the majority of the manufacturing materials being sourced from China, at least in the first few years of operation.
According to the project plan, state and city incentives are a “material factor” in Volt's decision to locate its new manufacturing operation in Jacksonville.
A cursory review of the incentive package appears to indicate the city would invest up to $24.6 million in grants and tax refunds, and the state would invest up to $29.3 million.
WJCT News reached out to the city asking for clarification of the incentives breakdown but had not heard back yet by the time this story was published.
The legislation for Project Volt is scheduled to be considered by the Mayor’s Budget Review Committee on January 8 and be introduced to the City Council on January 9.
Read the full Project Volt Summary here.
Bill Bortzfield can be reached at bbortzfield@wjct.org, 904-358-6349 or on Twitter at @BortzInJax.
Photoused under Creative Commons license.
