Vietnam-based Boviet Solar says it will create 908 new jobs in Pitt County with a $294 million investment to locate its first North American solar panel manufacturing facility in Greenville.
Boviet Solar make solar panels and photovoltaic cells. The company does solar project developments for commercial, industrial and residential customers in the U.S.
The expansion in Pitt County will increase the company’s global capacity with its planned 1 million-square-foot advanced manufacturing facility.
“We are proud of bringing our manufacturing excellence to our most important solar market, creating jobs, and making a positive impact on North Carolina’s economy,” said Jimmy Xie, general manager of Boviet Solar. “We are committed to expanding solar as a widely used renewable energy source in the U.S. and delivering locally made, top-performing PV modules to accelerate the advent of the global renewable revolution.”
Boviet is a subsidiary of the Boway Group, a Chinese conglomerate involved in electronics and manufacturing enterprises.
The company is taking over a facility in the Indigreen Corporate Park that previously housed DENSO Manufacturing, a Japanese company that made motors for an assortment of electrically-power subsystems in vehicles. Some 475 jobs disappeared in 2022 when DENSO consoidated its operations. It still has factories in Salisbury and Statesville.
Boviet said the second-phase factory construction will occur on 34 acres, and that the overall project will become its first factory outside Vietnam.
New positions being created by the company will range from engineers and production workers to administrative and management personnel with annual wages exceeding the Pitt County average salary of $50,937.
Boviet Solar’s project is set to receive an $8.3 million Job Development Investment Grant approved by the state’s Economic Investment Committee. The agreement authorizes potential reimbursement to the company of almost $8.3 million spread over 12 years.
The JDIG agreement authorizes the potential reimbursement to the company over 12 years. State payments hinge on the company meeting jobs and investment targets.
State officials say the project’s projected return on investment of public dollars is expected to be 47%, meaning for every dollar of potential cost to the state, the state receives $1.47 in state revenue.