JinkoSolar (U.S.) Industries Inc. intends to expand its Jacksonville solar-panel plant in West Jacksonville by moving into storage space next door at the building it leases in AllianceFlorida at Cecil Commerce Center.
JinkoSolar makes solar modules at the building it leases at 4660 POW-MIA Memorial Parkway. It has been using about 284,000 square feet of space in the 407,000-square-foot building.
It intends to expand into about 118,600 square feet for storage.
The city is reviewing a permit for TOLT Construction of Orlando to make preliminary access modifications for the future expansion of the plant into adjacent space vacated by the Industry West e-commerce furniture company.
“From a standpoint of practicality, expanding into new portions of a building Jinko already occupies makes a tremendous amount of sense,” a company spokesman said May 6 in an emailed statement.
“This space will be used to store raw materials as well as finished product, reducing reliance on warehouse facilities that are further away from our assembly plant, with the added bonus of requiring no new personnel, and keeping our energy expenditures down by a significant margin.”
JinkoSolar will expand from Unit 200 into Unit 100. Additional expansion space remains after that as well.
The permit specifies the estimated $50,000 project as modifications for the future expansion of the existing solar-panel production facility.
It will include the installation of interior overhead doors and other access to connect the space to the current facility.
Separate permits will handle modifications to electrical and fire systems.
Rhodes Architects & Engineers LLC is the architect. Codes-ABC Inc. of Orange Park is handling code compliance.
The structure was built in 2017 on 35.5 acres.
China-based JinkoSolar opened the facility in the fourth quarter of 2018 to make solar panels for residential and commercial uses across the United States.
JinkoSolar said May 6 it now has about 650 employees at the plant.
The property is owned by New York City-based Richardson Logistics Assets LLC, with a Florida address in Fort Lauderdale. Dallas-based Hillwood, the master developer of AllianceFlorida, sold the JinkoSolar/Industry West building in December 2018 for $30.7 million.
Industry West, which is based in San Marco, said in June 2018 that it would lease 121,783 square feet of space at 4660 New World Ave. to receive and ship products. The five-year lease began in August 2018.
JinkoSolar said Industry West vacated several weeks ago but did not have an exact date.
Industry West said by email May 6 it made the best business sense to move back to a third-party logistics center, meaning another company manages the warehousing and management of orders.
JinkoSolar also has been leasing space in Imeson Commerce Center in North Jacksonville for materials storage.
JinkoSolar.US says JinkoSolar is a leading PV module manufacturer and energy storage system integrator. It has more than 700 employees based in Silicon Valley in California and in Jacksonville.
It is owned by a company in Shanghai, China, and the Jacksonville location was the first plant to open in the United States. It is the company’s only U.S. manufacturing plant.
On June 13, 2023, the Jacksonville City Council withdrew a bill that would have awarded JinkoSolar U.S. $2.6 million in tax incentives in the wake of reports that federal officials served a search warrant May 8 at the company’s West Jacksonville facility.
“Jacksonville is home to our nearly 300,000 square foot facility, which has supported 280 local jobs for the past five years. We will continue with our investment of more than $50 million and create an additional 250 new jobs. We look forward to engaging with our local community in the years to come,” the company said in a statement after the vote.
JinkoSolar Holding Co. Ltd. said in its recent April 29 annual report to Securities and Exchange Commission that the production plant “promptly resumed production following the searches and its normal operations and production were not negatively affected. As of the date of this annual report, we have not received any indictments or other documents presenting criminal charges against us.”
Under a previous economic development agreement with Council Ordinance 2018-149-A, JinkoSolar committed to create 250 jobs and to invest $40 million.
City Council adopted a resolution in March 2018 to approve city tax incentives of $3.4 million, consisting of a $3.2 million Recapture Enhanced Value grant to be paid over 10 years and a $200,000 Qualified Target Industry tax refund for JinkoSolar to be repaid over five years.
The state was responsible for paying the remaining $800,000 of the total $1 million QTI refund.