ROCKDALE, Texas (KRHD) — T1 Energy and Milam County have agreed on a tax abatement that has benefits for both sides. In the deal, T1 is required to hire at least 1,000 local workers and invest a minimum $700 million.
- In Rockdale, the site of the old Alcoa plant will soon be the site of a new solar cell factory run by T1 Energy.
- The Alcoa plant closed down years ago, but Milam County leaders are now looking to revitalize the area with new industry, like T1 Energy, which is making a massive investment in our community.
- T1 Energy Executive Vice President Russell Gold tells 15 ABC that some temporary construction jobs will start almost immediately after coming to a tax abatement agreement with Milam County.
- Gold added that construction of the factory will start later in 2025, with the facility up and running by the end of 2026.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
"We are building a complete domestic supply chain and that's gonna include what's called a cell factory, which we're going to build in Rockdale," Russell Gold, Executive Vice President of T1 Energy, said.
T1 Energy is bringing new life to Milam County.
"They're going to be able to find good career jobs, family raising jobs where they live in Milam County and, you know, we're excited about that," said Gold.
T1 Energy is a company that builds solar panels in the United States.
The company and county agreed to a tax abatement in early June, which requires T1 to make at least a $700 million investment, hire at least 1,000 local workers, and have a median salary of a little less than $59,000 a year.
"T1 will take up about a million square feet of industrial space out there, and they're designed to have about 51 million square feet, so getting that first business in there was a big launch point," Bill Whitmire, Milam County Judge, said.
While this agreement does give T1 some tax relief, Judge Whitmire tells 15 ABC the added development around the factory is expected to offset that.
"Those tertiary companies come in and they generate a tax base as well and which also helps, you know, lower the tax rate for homeowners in the area," said Judge Whitmire.
The expectation is that this first phase will bring up to 1,800 jobs.
"This provides those jobs that we lost and pushes our population," said Judge Whitmire.
15 ABC asked Gold how significant this was for the workforce in Rockdale:
"It's for people who will take care of the robotic arms. It's going to be for people who take care of the HVAC System. It's going to be logistics. I mean, we're going to need a little bit of everything in this factory."
