Several law enforcement agency vehicles were seen May 8 at the JinkoSolar solar panel manufacturing plant at AllianceFlorida at Cecil Commerce Center.
News4JAX received multiple calls and emails about a possible raid at JinkoSolar. Sources said employees were sent home.
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, federal agents were assisting the Department of Homeland Security with the execution of a search warrant.
Homeland Security did not disclose the reason for the warrant but said it is part of an ongoing investigation.
News4Jax reported May 9 that its Sky4 drone flew over JinkoSolar the afternoon of May 8, showing agents from Homeland Security and the FBI outside.
It reported the FBI says it is assisting Homeland Security with the execution of a search warrant.
News4Jax said JinkoSolar is one of several under investigation by the Commerce Department for circumventing trade rules by sending its products to other countries before moving them to the U.S.
JinkoSolar opened its solar panel manufacturing plant at Cecil Commerce Center in 2018 and wants to expand its operation.
It is owned by a company in Shanghai, China, and the Jacksonville location was the first plant to open in the United States.
The Mayor’s Budget Review Committee voted 7-0 on April 10 to introduce legislation to Jacksonville City Council for incentives to support JinkoSolar’s proposal to invest more than $52 million in its Cecil Commerce Center plant and create 250 jobs.
Seeking incentives
The legislation, Resolution 2023-0276, was introduced April 25 and is on the agenda at the May 9 Council meeting for public comment and final action.
The city Office of Economic Development sought the committee’s approval to introduce legislation to Council for an economic development agreement for a grant of $2.3 million over 10 years.
The Recapture Enhanced Value Grant would be equal to 50% of the increase in ad valorem taxes paid by JinkoSolar over the first 10 years, with a maximum payout of $2.3 million.
A city project summary and legislation fact sheet says JinkoSolar has 274 employees at its plant at 4660 POW MIA Memorial Parkway, Suite 200, in AllianceFlorida at Cecil Commerce Center in West Jacksonville.
China-based JinkoSolar opened the 283,652-square-foot facility in the fourth quarter of 2018 to make solar panels for residential and commercial uses across the United States. It is the company’s only U.S. manufacturing plant.
Advanced manufacturing robots at the JinkoSolar (U.S.) plant in Jacksonville place strings of solar cells onto a specialized backing that form the base of a completed solar panel.
Under a previous economic development agreement with Council Ordinance 2018-149-A, JinkoSolar committed to create 250 jobs and to invest $40 million.
The summary says the company has created 274 jobs and invested more than $63 million. It says the factory produces one solar panel per minute “and is the most advanced manufacturing facility in the Southeast US.”
“Due to overwhelming growth and demand of its product, JinkoSolar needs to triple their current capacity,” the summary says.
It says JinkoSolar, whose stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange, has more than two dozen manufacturing facilities worldwide.
The summary says JinkoSolar has been evaluating other locations in the U.S., “which have made significant offers.”
The summary says the Office of Economic Development believes “we are now in a favorable position to have the expansion happen here in Jacksonville.”
$52 million investment
JinkoSolar would invest $52 million in building improvements, machinery and equipment and create 250 jobs by Dec. 31, 2026.
According to the summary, the grant would be “layered atop” the existing REV grant that is capped at $3.2 million, of which $1.6 million has been paid to date.
JinkoSolar told the city that incentives are a material factor in its decision to expand its operation in Jacksonville rather than another location.
In December 2018, China-based JinkoSolar Holding Co. Ltd. said it settled on Jacksonville for the first new U.S. solar-panel plant since tariffs were announced in January 2018 because of a focus by the city and state.
“Everybody really wanted to make it happen,” said Nigel Cockroft, general manager of JinkoSolar (U.S.) Inc., covering the U.S. and Canada.
JinkoSolar is based in Shanghai. Cockroft is general manager of San Francisco-based JinkoSolar (U.S.) Inc. and is responsible for photovoltaic module sales and operations in the U.S. and Canada. In April 2018, the company registered the name JinkoSolar (U.S.) Industries Inc. with the state.
“The coordination between the city and the state was the best that we saw,” Cockroft said in an interview after speaking at the fourth-quarter 2018 meeting of JAXUSA Partnership, the economic-development division of JAX Chamber.