Georgia companies get tax breaks in latest Obama jobs program

AJC:

Two Georgia companies were awarded millions of dollars in federal tax credits through a $2.3 billion clean energy manufacturing program announced Friday in the Obama administration's latest attempt to spur jobs growth.

 

Suniva Inc. of Norcross will receive $5.7 million in federal tax credits for expanding its solar cell manufacturing business.

Carrollton-based Southwire will get $2.2 million worth of tax credits to re-equip its manufacturing lines to make cables designed specifically for solar and wind energy transmission.

In all, the White House announced tax breaks for 183 projects in 43 states in return for new investments in clean energy manufacturing.

In announcing the awards, President Barack Obama also called on Congress to provide another $5 billion to invest in more clean energy manufacturing projects.

“Building a robust clean energy sector is how we will create the jobs of the future,” he said. Clean energy jobs also reduce dependence on foreign oil and help the environment, Obama said.

Under the awards announced Friday and created through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, companies can get a 30 percent tax credit for their investments in new clean energy manufacturing lines.

Coming on a day when the Labor Department announced that the nation's employers shed a worse-than-expected 85,000 jobs in December, White House officials emphasized the jobs that the tax credits are expected to help create.

According to the White House, the companies chosen have said the credits will directly help them create 17,000 new jobs.

Another 41,000 jobs could be created as a result of the expected $5 billion in private investment in plant expansions tied to the tax credits, the White House says.

The credits announced Friday went to a wide range of clean energy manufacturing businesses.

Other awardees include a company that makes nuclear power turbines in Tennessee and South Carolina companies that make concrete wind turbine bases and advanced energy-saving power meters.

Posted via email from Jim Nichols for GA State House