Lawmakers approve incentive funds for Saginaw County solar plant | Business [Video]

LANSING, Mich. (WJRT) – Michigan lawmakers advanced bills Thursday that would pay for incentives promised to attract a solar manufacturing plant to rural Saginaw County.

The House Appropriations Committee approved a measure to transfer $97 million to Michigan’s SOAR Fund, which is used to provide economic incentives for large-scale industrial developments.

The funding is designated for a $990 million development by Corning Inc. along Orr Road near Hemlock Semiconductor in Saginaw County’s Richland Township. Corning hopes to begin operating the plant in about one year.

The project is slated to create more than 1,100 jobs paying an average of $65,000 per year. The new employees will work in about 1 million square feet of industrial space.