Vietnamese solar panel manufacturer Boviet Solar is building a 1.1 million square foot facility in Pitt County, North Carolina, a move that will bring more than 900 new, high-paying jobs to the Greenville area.
The project involves renovating an existing 500,000 square foot building to create a state-of-the-art plant to produce high-performance photovoltaic panels.They will also build a 600,000 square foot facility on an adjacent 34-acre parcel of land to expand their production capacity. According to Sienna Cen, President of Boviet Solar USA, “The completed facilities will produce 2.0 GW of solar modules and 2.0 GW of solar cells annually, significantly contributing to the U.S. solar supply chain and supporting the nation’s transition to clean energy. This project not only underscores North Carolina’s role as a leader in renewable energy but also creates significant economic opportunities for the local community.”
The Eastern North Carolina Alliance says that the jobs created by the new facilities will be hired through 2028 and will include employees in production, equipment, process, quality, IT, finance, human resources, administration, and procurement. Annual wages will exceed the Pitt County average salary of $50,937.
The Greenville area is a natural choice for this nearly $300 million investment by Boviet Solar, according to Zhaochun “Jimmy” Xie, CEO and General Manager of Boviet Solar. “When you hear that we visited over 60 different locations across 9 states, you might think that making the final decision would be challenging,” he said. “However, that’s not the case. Greenville is simply the ‘promised land’ for Project Genesis. Greenville’s excellent infrastructure allows Greenville Utilities to provide industrial-grade utility services promptly. ECU and Pitt Community College will supply ample technical labor and engineers. Plus, the Wilmington Port and well-connected highways offer convenient and reliable logistics support.”
In addition, North Carolina is a leading state for STEM talent with the largest manufacturing workforce in the southeastern United States, according to North Carolina Commerce Secretary Machelle Baker Sanders. In fact, the 2023 Tech Innovation Index ranked the Greenville-Pitt County metropolitan area first in the nation for STEM Education Completions per 1,000 adults.
Bovet Solar was founded in 2013 and specializes in manufacturing advanced monocrystalline PERC and TOPCon solar cells, as well as Gamma Series™ monofacial and Vega Series™ bifacial solar modules for residential, commercial, industrial, and utility-scale solar applications.
