Dive Brief:
- The $900 million SolarCity solar panel plant in Buffalo, NY, is scheduled for completion by Sept. 15, with 99% of the building shell and 95% of the interior process systems currently finished, according to the Buffalo News.
- SolarCity officials said the company's new roofing-solar product will go into production by the end of June.
- The solar panel manufacturer originally estimated its future production to generate 1,000 megawatts of electricity per year, but officials increased that figure to 1 gigawatt. Manufacturing was slated to begin this year, but financial obstacles have pushed it back to 2017.
Dive Insight:
The SolarCity plant is part of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's Buffalo Billion initiative, which has directed significant investment into the Buffalo-area economy and is projected to create 1,500 local jobs and 5,000 state jobs over the next 10 years. The program allotted the SolarCity project $750 million.
The factory's delayed production schedule follows several construction-related problems this year. In March, subcontractors walked off the project after not being paid for between 90 and 120 days. However, once the Empire State Development Corp., which handles construction projects for the state, paid general contractor LPCiminelli $82 million in overdue payments, workers returned. State officials blamed the payment flow that was set up for Buffalo Billion projects.
In May, however, more serious issues began to plague the project. New York lawmakers delayed $485 million in additional funding for the plant after the U.S. Attorney's office in Manhattan launched an investigation into the award process for the Buffalo Billion projects, eventually resulting in a subpoena for SolarCity project records as well as for the governor's testimony.
Legislators ended up green-lighting the extra money, which officials said went toward site work and cost overruns on the facility. Along with the funds, the Public Authorities Control Board imposed additional restrictions on future cash. Those restrictions included closing a language gap in the original funding resolution that would allow for SolarCity money to be used elsewhere, monitoring of job creation numbers and more review of spending by both internal and external parties.