AUSTIN, Texas — Caldwell County struck an agreement with Chem-Energy that will invest more than $1 billion in solar panel manufacturing and solar energy.
County Judge Hoppy Haden said the investment will lead to lower taxes for neighbors, while increasing the county's net tax revenue.
"Our agreement is the 10-year agreement ratcheting down from a 100% rebate in the first couple of years, all the way down to 10% in the last year, and it just goes down progressively year over year," Haden said. "It's tied to some metrics. They have to have a certain amount of jobs each year and a certain amount of investment each year in order for that to happen."
Chem-Energy is set to build a new manufacturing facility for solar panels in Caldwell County, as well as help provide solar power long-term.
"We think renewable energy is the wave of the future," Haden said. "This is a great opportunity for us to not only have a source of renewable energy, but also have a manufacturer that's going to be producing the ability for others to have that same option."
According to our partners at the Austin American-Statesman, two Caldwell County plants will sell electricity on the state's deregulated power grid, operated by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), as well as to regional electricity providers such as the Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative and the Lower Colorado River Authority.
Typically, solar farms take up massive amounts of space. Fortunately, Haden said the property the facilities will build on were already marked for commercial construction rather than agriculture use.
The investment will bring 400 long-term jobs to the area just in its first year, with plans to raise that number gradually as time goes on. According to Chem-Energy, the average pay will be just over $53,000. Haden was excited to share that, saying the average income for workers in the county is about $48,000.
"One thing we have seen, also, here is we've had a massive influx of people into Caldwell County," Haden said. "We've had the prices of our homes go up considerably... To get these types of jobs where folks can afford to be in that marketplace is very important."
According to U.S. Census data, the median household income in Caldwell County was just over $54,000.
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