A deal for $750 million in tax breaks and low-cost power will bring 2,850 construction and 2,000 installation jobs to New York State, and could set SolarCity on a path to manufacture “tens of gigawatts” of solar panels per year, Lacey reports. The deal includes a new solar research facility in New York, with SolarCity committing to spend $5 billion on manufacturing and installation in the site over the next decade. Leacy and GTM Research analyst Shyam Mehta say the success of the venture, which began with Solar City’s acquisition of high-efficiency solar manufacturer Silevo, will depend on market timing and cost structure. “It’s unclear if the acquisition really even makes sense for SolarCity. But unlike with Solyndra, whose prospects we were skeptical of even during the best of times, there is legitimate cause for optimism in Silevo’s case,” Mehta previously wrote.
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