Solar startup moving into Bedford plant, creating 104 jobs

Solar energy startup Solarix plans to invest $63 million to start a solar module manufacturing facility in eastern Bedford County and create 104 jobs, the company, the Lynchburg Regional Business Alliance and the Bedford County Office of Economic Development announced Thursday. 

Solarix, which bills itself as a 100% American-owned, SBA-certified, disabled veteran-owned company headquartered in Bedford’s Forest community, purchased a 423,553-square-foot building at 2150 Perrowville Road that was used by Teva Pharmaceuticals, which ceased operations in 2020.

Solarix plans to begin manufacturing by July 2025 and to employ 104 people, according to the news release. The company bought the building for $16.5 million in July from AVET, according to public records. AVET, an entity located in Henrico County, purchased the building in 2021 for $7 million.

“The building has been vacant for quite a few years, so I’m glad to see somebody in there,” said Pam Armstrong, Bedford’s director of economic development.

“The partners and investors were familiar with Virginia,” said Megan Lucas, CEO and chief economic development officer of Lynchburg Regional Business Alliance. “They were also looking for a building of this size, a large existing manufacturing facility, and that’s what brought their eyes to our market.” 

The company was created “specifically to develop this plant,” according to Dakota Forgione, Solarix’s controller and chief relationship officer.

The company’s goal, according to the news release, is to “support the commonwealth’s renewable energy supply needs and mitigate reliance on foreign manufacturers, particularly from China.” 

“As a 100% American-owned and managed company, we are immensely proud to contribute to our nation’s energy independence,” Carlos Class, CEO and co-founder of Solarix, stated in the release. “By reclaiming control of our supply chain from foreign manufacturers, we are safeguarding our electric grid infrastructure, ensuring its resilience for decades to come. This is not just a business endeavor; it is a commitment to U.S. national security and a sustainable future.”

Forgione noted that there are “very few” solar module manufacturers currently operating in the United States. “Just a handful with nominal capacity,” he said.

Napoli Gomez, co-founder and chief technology officer of Solarix, previously worked at JinkoSolar, which also manufacturers solar panels, as a process engineer in a Florida facility, according to his LinkedIn page. He has more than a decade of experience working in solar cells technology and PV module manufacturing, according to Solarix.

The modules will be designed to be suitable for various applications, including agrivoltaics, which is the practice of using land for agriculture while generating solar energy. They will feature bifacial dual glass technology, and every module will have a 30-year performance warranty, according to the news release.  

Former Gov. Ralph Northam signed the Virginia Clean Economy Act in 2020, which pledges to transition Virginia’s electric grid to 100% clean energy by 2050. 

Solarix plans to initially achieve a production capacity of 1 gigawatt per year. In its second phase, which the company plans to launch in 2026, Solarix executives plan to expand the facility to be able to produce 3 gigawatts of electricity per year and have hired 200 workers, according to Forgione. 

“There is a very talented workforce pool that is readily available in the region,” she said. “A lot of that is because you had a lot of very technical jobs that were associated with Teva Pharmaceuticals.”

Solarix executives expect the facility to produce 200 modules per hour. In phase two of development, Solarix plans to add a solar module recycling line. The company will accept old and broken modules from other manufacturers. 

Solarix hopes to take advantage of the Section 45X Advanced Manufacturing Production Tax Credit, a federal incentive created as part of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 to boost domestic production of materials related to clean and renewable energy. The company has not yet received any incentives from the state, according to Forgione.

The Lynchburg Regional Business Alliance worked with the Bedford County Office of Economic Development to bring the project to Forest.

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported the sale price for the facility.