The Ohio Controlling Board has given final approval for a $10 million loan as part of the more than $1 billion expansion of a solar panel manufacturing facility near Toledo.
The loan is heading to Willard & Kelsey Solar Group LLC, a company that makes thin-film solar panels at a facility in Perrysburg. The company, which runs one production line with about 40 employees, has proposed expanding to as many as 16 production lines employing more than 3,500 in the coming years.
The state loan, a slice of Gov. Ted Strickland’s $1.57 billion job-creation stimulus package passed last year, will help finance the $1.2 billion project and will be disbursed over two years, the Ohio Air Quality Development Authority said.
Development Authority Executive Director Mark Shanahan said in a release that Monday’s Controlling Board approval “affirms that we are gaining momentum in our efforts to support cutting-edge advanced energy projects that are on a fast track toward commercialization and job creation.”
The award for the Willard & Kelsey project was unveiled in June, when state officials also cleared Columbus-based American Municipal Power Inc. for a $30 million loan to help fund construction of a $3 billion generating station in Meigs County. The status of approval for the AMP loan was unclear Monday.
