Wacker nears groundbreaking deadline

CHARLESTON, Tenn. -- More than a year after Wacker Chemical announced its intention to build a new $1 billion polycrystalline silicon factory in Bradley County, the planned 200-acre site remains undisturbed.

"Community residents see Volkswagen moving so fast, so they've asked what's happened to Wacker," Bradley County Mayor Gary Davis said.

The difference, he said, is that site-work, including permits and infrastructure, had already been completed when Volkswagen announced its plans in July 2008.

Progress made since Wacker's February 2009 announcement has mostly been behind the scenes, explained Ross Tarver, chairman of the Bradley/Cleveland Industrial Development Board.

"The announcement was the easy part," Mr. Tarver said. "This is where the work begins."

Land permits must be issued and studies conducted before construction on Wacker's new facility begins, Gary Farlow, the Cleveland/Bradley County Chamber of Commerce president, said.

"The company is very aggressively moving to initiate construction," said Douglas Berry, the chamber's VP of Economic Development.

Wacker was recently awarded a $128 million federal alternative energy tax credit. One of the incentive's stipulations, Mr. Farlow said, was that construction begin by January next year.

"That's really going to help the project start on a faster schedule," Mr. Tarver said, adding that he expected the project to be completed ahead of schedule.

About three years of work lie ahead for the project, Dan Howell, executive assistant to the Bradley County mayor, said. Construction would create 1,000 new jobs, he said, and the permanent work force will be around half that.

In the meantime, preliminary engineering has begun on a new access road from Lauderdale Memorial Highway to Old Lower River Road. The connection should serve existing industries Olin Corporation and Arch Chemicals, in addition to Wacker, Mr. Tarver said.

The road would provide direct access with I-75, he said, allowing larger chemical tankers to bypass the town of Charleston.

"It's definitely a safer avenue for those trucks to travel," he added.

Mr. Davis said the access road will be straighter, wider, and follow 30 acres on the eastern boundary of the Wacker site.

Bradley County has committed up to $5 million for infrastructure needs, he said.

The Tennessee Department of Transportation aims to spend $7 million on the road, Mr. Farlow said.

Last week, the State Building Commission approved a $64.2 million state grant to cover infrastructure for the project, he said.

In addition, Wacker engineers have been in talks with the Tennessee Valley Authority regarding construction of new substations to service the site, Mr. Farlow said.

He said TVA is investing $11 million for a nearly 3-mile line that will provide up to 500 kilovolts.

Bill Toth, manager of Wacker's corporate communications, said the company doesn't anticipate any conflict with the construction deadlines required by the federal tax credit, but declined to discuss contractors involved with the project.

"We certainly would like to draw as much as we can from the local area," he said.

Mr. Farlow said the chamber has been encouraging Wacker to use local contractors as much as possible.

"This is a very specific type of construction," he said. "There are not many contractors in the world that can do this type of construction."

The chamber has been inundated with requests from local contractors, vendors and job seekers, Mr. Farlow said.

"They're not really going to be doing any hiring anytime soon," he said. "People need to be patient with this process."

The company has not even set a date for groundbreaking, Mr. Toth said.

The factory is, however, on track to be completed by 2014, the mayor said.

Now that Wacker has completed construction on a similar plant in Germany, preparations have been accelerated for its Tennessee factory, Mr. Farlow said.

"They're a lot more focused on it," he said. "You can only build so many billion-dollar plants at one time."

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