Tenn. wins $200 million solar plant

CLINTON, Tenn., Jan. 21 (UPI) -- Confluence Solar, a start-up company from Missouri, will build a $200 million manufacturing and distribution complex in Tennessee, officials announced Thursday.

The 200,000-square-foot building on 25 acres could mean up to 250 new jobs in Clinton, company executives said at the announcement, which was attended by Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen and other state officials.

The facility will produce mono-crystal silicon ingots for photovoltaic solar power generation. The company, which has its headquarters in Hazelwood, Mo., says it's HiCz brand products jack up the efficiency of solar cells by 15 percent or more.

Bredesen said in a release more than $1 billion in capital has been invested and more than a thousand jobs created in the past two years as the state has worked to lure renewable energy businesses.

"The announcement today by Confluence Solar is further proof that Tennessee is recognized as a leader in renewable energy and that a new economic engine is emerging in our state," he said.

Tom Cadwell, who co-founded the company in 2007 and is its chief executive, said Clinton became the preferred site because of the state's "nationally recognized business climate and their focused solar strategy along with Clinton's close proximity to Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the new Solar Institute."

The company didn't say when ground would be broken for the project or how many workers would be employed initially. The company's Web site didn't appear to have any updated information since a Sept. 23, 2008, news release about raising $12.7 million in capital that mentioned Convexa Capital of Oslo, Norway, DC Chemical Co. of South Korea, Oslo's Scatec Adventure AS, and Oceanshore Ventures of Palo Alto, Calif., were among its financial backers.