Manufacturer expected to bring 900 jobs to Greenville

GREENVILLE — A solar panel manufacturing company will locate in eastern North Carolina and create more than 900 jobs over four years at Indigreen Corporate Park north of Greenville, Gov. Roy Cooper and other officials announced Friday.

Boviet Solar plans to build solar panels at the former Denso facility on Sugg Parkway thanks in part to state and local incentives, officials said during an event at East Carolina University’s Murphy Center at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium.

“We don’t take opportunities and investments like this for granted,” Cooper said at the event. It is Boviet’s first U.S. manufacturing facility and the largest job announcement in Pitt County’s history, officials said. It is the largest announcement to date in in 2024 for North Carolina.

The deal has been in the works for months.

The Pitt County Board of Commissioners in December unanimously approved an economic development incentive to match an N.C. Commerce Building Grant for “Project Gen,” which was expected to result in a $294 million investment by the company. The Greenville City Council was set to take a similar action, but it was delayed while Boviet completed state and federal approvals.

The company visited numerous sites in the process of deciding on Greenville, said Zhaochun “Jimmy” Xie, CEO and general manager of Boviet Solar.

“When you hear that we visited over 60 different locations across nine states, you might think that making the final decision would be challenging. However, that’s not the case. Greenville is simply the ‘promised land’ for Project Genesis,” he said.

Xie touted Greenville’s infrastructure, namely its industrial-grade utility services, and also noted that ECU and Pitt Community College would be able to supply technical labor and engineers.

Boviet specializes in manufacturing top-performing solar PV modules for solar projects, a news release said. Its Americas HQ and sales office is in San Jose, Calif.

“Since last year, our team has worked extremely hard with our partners at Pitt County and City of Greenville along with Boviet representatives and federal and state agencies to get this project to the finish line,” said Josh Lewis, president and CEO of the Greenville ENC Alliance, an economic development partnership. “Thanks to the work of many, a recently vacated building has been brought back to life and will soon be humming with production once again.”

Boviet narrowed its search to three locations in Arizona, Georgia and North Carolina before selecting the Pitt County site.

The more than 900 jobs will be hired through 2028 and include employees in production, equipment, process, quality, finance, IT, human resources, administration and procurement. Annual wages will exceed the Pitt County average salary of $50,937.

“I could not be more excited to welcome Boviet Solar to Greenville,” Mayor P.J. Connelly said. “Since taking the oath of mayor, I have been a strong advocate for partnerships and collaboration in our economic development work. Welcoming a manufacturer of this magnitude in our community is a win for Greenville, Pitt County, and all of eastern North Carolina, and we owe a lot of it to our collaborative efforts.”

Key partners in the project include the N.C. Department of Commerce, the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina, the N.C. General Assembly, the N.C. Community College System, the Golden LEAF Foundation, the Greenville ENC Alliance, Pitt County, ElectriCities of North Carolina, Greenville Utilities Commission and the city of Greenville.

Pitt County officials reported in December that the state grant will be 70 percent of the net increased property taxes paid by a company over seven years. The increase is capped at $8 million and includes a 5 percent local match, up to $25,000, to support the maximum reuse grant.

The incentive was for an existing building, the county reported. Enhancements will be made to the building, and the company will build a new building and purchase machinery and equipment.

The Greenville City Council on Dec. 14 also was scheduled to take up Project Gen, which council agenda materials said involved a solar manufacturing company known for power, performance and quality that has been rated as a top industry performer for five years.

“Project Gen is one of the greatest one-time capital investment projects in Pitt County’s history and is set to receive incentives totaling $21,315,821 from the State of North Carolina and $9,378,200 from Pitt County, the City of Greenville, Greenville Eastern North Carolina Alliance and Greenville Utilities,” the council materials said.

Based on economic impact, the company is eligible to receive a job creation grant of up to $500,000 from the city to be paid in installments of up to $100,000 over five years at a rate of $1,000 per qualified job, the city reported. The grant period starts next year if approved by the council next week.