A Chinese solar panel manufacturer that last year said it would invest $100 million in a production facility in East Fishkill has yet to show any sign of bringing its plans to fruition.
Linuo Solar Group Co., a solar photovoltaic manufacturer headquartered about 280 miles south of Beijing, announced on Sept. 23, 2011, it had bought the 160-acre property formerly known as the IBM West Campus for $4.5 million.
In the 11 months since, Linuo has yet to file a single application for a building permit ”“ or any other document indicating preparations to occupy the facility ”“ and state and local officials report Linuo representatives have been nearly unreachable.
“We”™re incredibly disappointed that they don”™t have a plan in place,” said Catherine Maloney, president and CEO of the Dutchess County Economic Development Corp.,
one of the groups involved in the initial plans to bring Linuo to East Fishkill. “But we”™re ready, willing and able to work with them as they develop a plan. We want to help them move forward.”
At the time of the announcement, Linuo”™s director of international development, Bevan Zhang, said the company planned to invest $100 million in a manufacturing facility that would serve as the company”™s U.S. headquarters, with plans to hire 1,000 workers over the course of several years and to begin production in early 2013.
Linuo is a subsidiary of Wuhan Linuo Solar Energy Group Co. Ltd., which has a current market value equal to about $225 million.
The effort was a collaboration among Dutchess County, The Solar Energy Consortium (TSEC) in Kingston, Empire State Development Corp. and a number of local officials.
The broker who negotiated the initial purchase and who has remained in contact with a Linuo representative said the company is still interested in establishing its East Fishkill facility.
Thomas LaPerch, an associate broker with Houlihan Lawrence”™s East Fishkill office, said economic factors and a tariff on solar panels imported from China enacted by the U.S. in May have contributed to delays.
“They”™re disappointed themselves they haven”™t started,” LaPerch said. “The business model has changed since they bought the property because the tariff rules and regulations have made it more difficult for them to set up shop here.”
However, the tariff only applies to solar panels manufactured in China and would not apply to panels manufactured in the U.S. by a Chinese company. Efforts by the Business Journal to contact Linuo were unsuccessful.
Maloney and Ron Hicks, Dutchess County deputy commissioner of economic development and strategic planning, said county officials are anxious to see the property occupied ”“ regardless of which company chooses to set up shop.
“If, because of tariffs or the economy, the project they proposed is no longer viable, we want to make sure we are able to respond to any opportunity to get that site developed,” Hicks said. “We want to get those buildings reopened, we want to get the site redeveloped if necessary and we want to start creating jobs.”
East Fishkill Town Supervisor John Hickman confirmed that Linuo has not submitted any permit applications to the town.
“After the big announcement and resulting hoopla, I spoke with the people in our Building Department about the best and most efficient way to review and process anticipated building plans which, unfortunately, never appeared,” Hickman said in an email.
Empire State Development last year offered Linuo an incentive package of $6 million in Excelsior tax credits in exchange for creating roughly 600 jobs in East Fishkill.
There is no public record of the offer, which would not have required board approval until the 600-job mark was reached and the tax credits were set to be disbursed.
Excelsior credits are performance based, meaning no funds have been or will be issued to Linuo until the requirements of the agreement are met, ESD spokesman Jason Conwall said.
Conwall said ESD “extensively vets” companies and conducts due diligence prior to making any offer. He said there have been instances when projects did not pan out within the expected timeline.
In May 2011, SpectraWatt, a solar startup spun out of Intel Corp. that had invested $80 million in a manufacturing facility on another part of the East Fishkill property, folded due to economic reasons.
The company had leased space from IBM since the previous May.
