AURORA | General Electric has suspended its PrimeStar solar panel manufacturing project in Aurora for at least 18 months, city lawmakers and GE officials confirmed Wednesday.
The announcement comes after another economic development project, the Gaylord Hotel and Conference Center, was put on hold indefinitely last month.
The build out is on hold while GE focuses on “developing the next generation of solar module technology,” said Lindsay Theile, a spokeswoman for GE’s renewable energy department in an e-mail. GE had to suspend its operations because of fierce competition in the global solar energy market, a huge drop in prices of competitors’ solar panels and declining incentives, she said.
“This decision has been made to keep GE’s cost goals in line, in order to continue our competitiveness in the solar industry,” Theile said.
The $317 million solar plant manufacturing facility, called PrimeStar Solar, was set to be the largest in the country and create more than 350 jobs. It was to be built at Tower Road and Interstate 70 on the north side of the Majestic Commerce Center and Aurora was expected to generate more than $16 million in sales taxes and property taxes over 10 years beginning in 2012 as a result of the deal.
News of the suspension wasn’t surprising to some Aurora City Council members.
Councilman Bob LeGare said he voted against giving incentives to the project earlier this year because he thought the solar energy industry was too reliant on public money and wouldn’t be sustainable.
“It was clear to me that the solar energy industry wouldn’t exist without taxpayer subsidies,” he said.
What is disappointing to him though is that this is the second major economic development deal to fall through — at least temporarily — in as many months.
“It seems like all the big deals that come to Aurora end up flopping,” he said, listing the NASCAR race track, a failed theme park called Sci-Fi Land and a mixed-use development project called Horizon Uptown. But Aurora has lots of land and infrastructure to support a large development and he’s confident that it will happen eventually.
“It’s just a matter if time before we land that big project and that’ll be a catalyst for future development,” he said.
Aurora’s economic development officials said GE is not abandoning the project completely.
“If you look at GE’s track record, they’ve had to change with the economy and change with consumer needs,” said Wendy Mitchell, president and chief executive of the Aurora Economic Development Council. “I am confident that if there is a solution for them, they’ll find it.”
PrimeStar Solar is set to receive $9.4 million worth of tax rebates once they open for business, but they haven’t received a penny from the city yet since they haven’t completed their construction project, Mitchell said.
Much of the project is done though, said Yuriy Gorlov, business development manager for the Aurora Economic Development Council. Gorlov toured the facility on July 2 and said millions of dollars worth of construction was already complete.
He said there were no layoffs of employees due to the suspension of the project.
Councilwoman Molly Markert said she hopes GE will resume its operations soon.
“We’ll hope it comes back and when it does we hope it comes back with jobs galore,” she said.
Reach reporter Sara Castellanos at 720-449-9036 or sara@aurorasentinel.com.
OH…kinda like that solydra deal…pump hundreds of millions of dollars into it and then shut it down…another obama crony project…G.E…big supporter of obama.