DENVER - Abound Solar, a company founded at Colorado State University will get nearly half a billion dollars in federal money to expand production of solar energy panels.
The award is one of two renewable energy economic stimulus grants, totaling nearly $2 billion, announced by President Barack Obama during his weekly address Saturday.
Abound Solar started in 2007 with just four employees.
Now with about 300 employees in Colorado, they're getting 400-million dollars in federal grants to expand their solar panel production operation in Longmont.
And go from building one million commercial solar panels a year to three million, while doubling their work force.
"I can't speak to the specific impact on the local area," said Abound marketing director Mark Chen, "But 300 jobs is certainly better than not having those jobs in place and the positions that we'll be hiring for are good paying positions the average salaries expected to be about 40 percent higher than the local average."
"It shows that Colorado is a leader on the national stage when it comes to our clean energy future," said Colorado Renewable Energy Society spokesman Phil von Hake.
Von Hake says the U.S. lags far behind Europe and Asia on clean energy alternatives like solar and wind.
And despite our love affair with fossil fuel vehicles, Colorado's three year commitment to a new energy economy is starting to change the game.
"The money's already starting to follow the policies and it shows that Colorado's already starting to reap the rewards of it," von Hake said, "And America can do the same if we really commit to a clean future." Right now Colorado has about 15 thousand people working in new energy jobs with a goal of more than tripling that number in 15 years.
Governor Ritter calls the Abound Solar loan a "new energy success story."
"Our company is having a substantial impact on the cost of solar electricity making it more competitive with electricity generated by fossil fuel sources such as coal and natural gas," said Abound's Mark Chen.
A second solar energy company, Abengoa Solar Incorporated,based in Spain will also expand its presence in Colorado with some of the federal energy loans.
It's interesting to note that both of these companies actually export most of their product to European and Asian countries, where they have been far faster to adopt renewable energy technologies.
The award is one of two renewable energy economic stimulus grants, totaling nearly $2 billion, announced by President Barack Obama during his weekly address Saturday.
Abound Solar started in 2007 with just four employees.
Now with about 300 employees in Colorado, they're getting 400-million dollars in federal grants to expand their solar panel production operation in Longmont.
And go from building one million commercial solar panels a year to three million, while doubling their work force.
"I can't speak to the specific impact on the local area," said Abound marketing director Mark Chen, "But 300 jobs is certainly better than not having those jobs in place and the positions that we'll be hiring for are good paying positions the average salaries expected to be about 40 percent higher than the local average."
"It shows that Colorado is a leader on the national stage when it comes to our clean energy future," said Colorado Renewable Energy Society spokesman Phil von Hake.
Von Hake says the U.S. lags far behind Europe and Asia on clean energy alternatives like solar and wind.
And despite our love affair with fossil fuel vehicles, Colorado's three year commitment to a new energy economy is starting to change the game.
"The money's already starting to follow the policies and it shows that Colorado's already starting to reap the rewards of it," von Hake said, "And America can do the same if we really commit to a clean future." Right now Colorado has about 15 thousand people working in new energy jobs with a goal of more than tripling that number in 15 years.
Governor Ritter calls the Abound Solar loan a "new energy success story."
"Our company is having a substantial impact on the cost of solar electricity making it more competitive with electricity generated by fossil fuel sources such as coal and natural gas," said Abound's Mark Chen.
A second solar energy company, Abengoa Solar Incorporated,based in Spain will also expand its presence in Colorado with some of the federal energy loans.
It's interesting to note that both of these companies actually export most of their product to European and Asian countries, where they have been far faster to adopt renewable energy technologies.
