A producer of structural metal components for the automobile industry plans to invest $50 million in a new Arizona plant that will manufacture mirror assemblies for solar-power systems.
Tower Automotive of Livonia, Mich., declined to announce a location for the facility, pending final lease negotiations, but did confirm it will employ about 200 people.
In her State of the State address Monday, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer said such skilled manufacturing jobs are what the state's economy needs.
The plant is expected to be operating by the end of 2010.
Tower was awarded a contract in September to produce and assemble the mirror components for the SunCatcher concentrating solar-power system, developed by Scottsdale's Stirling Energy Systems.
The 40-mirror arrays direct sunlight onto a non-combustion Stirling engine to run a 25-kilowatt electric generator. The engine works by heating and cooling hydrogen to drive a piston.
Stirling and related Tessera Solar are putting the SunCatchers into commercial production at power plants in Arizona, California and Texas.
A 60-unit facility capable of generating 1.5 megawatts of electricity for Salt River Project is scheduled to be operational in Peoria shortly.
A project in west Texas, using 1,080 SunCatcher units, will generate 27 megawatts for CPS Energy, while a 34,000-unit plant near Calico, Calif., is projected to generate 850 megawatts for Southern California Edison. One megawatt can power up to 800 homes.
Stirling and other solar-power companies in Arizona are benefiting by mandates that electric utilities generate a portion of their power using renewable resources such as sunshine and wind.
When in full production, the plant is expected to turn out 100 solar arrays per day.
Stirling spokeswoman Janette Coates said Tower was selected because of its experience in the automobile industry.
"They have expertise of ramping up fast to get new products into production," she said.
Tower has been hurt by the decline of the U.S. auto industry and is looking for ways to diversify.
Company spokesman Frank Buscemi said the SunCatcher contract was a great opportunity.
"Producing metal frameworks for a solar-power unit is just an extension of producing metal ribs for the hood on an automobile," he said.
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