New firm for Fairless Works

A solar-energy company with major backing from Taiwan is setting up its headquarters and a manufacturing plant that could employ 5,000 people in high-tech jobs at the old U.S. Steel Fairless Works within a decade, Gov. Rendell announced yesterday.

York Tsuo, president of AE Polysilicon Corp., said he planned to have the $70 million first phase in operation - with 145 people earning an average $48,000 annually - by the middle of next year.

"Once we demonstrate that we are successful, we will move very rapidly to develop phases two and three," Tsuo said.

Initially, the company will make polysilicon, the raw material in panels that convert solar energy to electricity. Future phases will produce other components of solar-energy systems, he said.

Rendell hailed the announcement as another key step in the long journey of bringing back to life the sprawling Bucks County site on the Delaware River, where 10,000 once worked. It is also an important step, he added, in building Pennsylvania's alternative-energy industry.

AE Polysilicon is the second energy company to come to Fairless Hills. Last year, Spain's Gamesa Corporación Tecnológica S.A. announced plans to make electricity-generating windmills at the site, now called the Keystone Industrial Port Complex.

That work has started; giant blades and turbine nacelles were visible from where Rendell spoke.

"States that corner the market on producing alternative and renewable sources of energy will have the strongest economies in the future," he said.

The solar-energy company will occupy 20 or 30 of the 1,300 acres designated in 2004 as a Keystone Opportunity Improvement Zone, which offers tax breaks through 2014. The firm also received a $1.76 million low-interest loan and other assistance from the state.

The old steel mill includes a major seaport terminal, now operated by Kinder-Morgan Inc. of Houston; 70 miles of railroad track; and a robust utility infrastructure.

The seaport terminal, like others along the Delaware River, will soon need to expand to handle more volume, said Stephan W. Bilan, general manager of the Keystone Industrial Port Complex. It handled a half-million tons of cargo a few years ago and 2.5 million tons last year, and is expected to exceed four million tons this year, Bilan said.

Rendell said he saw a strong future for the state's industrial and maritime economies.

"There is great interest in expanding our ports on the Delaware River. I've met with a lot of people who are interested, not just the Holts," he said, referring to the Thomas J. Holt family, which runs the region's largest seaport operations.

He also said he and Gov. Corzine had been working toward resolving a long impasse and moving forward on deepening the Delaware River ship channel from 40 feet to 45. "His accident may delay it a bit, but we're making progress," Rendell said.

Pennsylvanians spend $30 billion a year on energy produced outside the state, the governor said.

"Having the ability to generate our own energy is a matter of independence and security, and a tremendous economic driver," he said, adding that the state's alternative-energy strategy could create high-tech jobs and "help companies compete by bringing rising energy costs under control."

Tsou, who currently runs his company from an office in Chatham, N.J., came to the United States from Taiwan in 1984 to earn a doctorate from the Illinois Institute of Technology. His brother Y. Simon Tsuo, chief executive of Motech Solar Industries Inc. of Taiwan, is a major investor.

After yesterday's ceremony, the brothers walked among the weeds and scraps from the once mighty steel mill.

"It doesn't look like much now," York Tsou said, pointing to a faded, long-empty 39,000-square-foot building, "but it can be converted into a nice headquarters.

"The site has everything we need - rail access, good utilities, and good suppliers nearby - and we have an option to buy that warehouse later," he said, pointing to a long, thin building.

"This is," he added, "my American dream."