Colorado’s New Energy Economy received another major boost on Monday when SMA Solar Technology AG, the world’s largest manufacturer of solar inverters, announced that it will locate its first manufacturing plant outside of Germany in Denver.

The new facility will be located on Havana Street in the Stapleton area, and the company said it expects to employ about 300 full-time workers once production ramps up. Up to 400 workers could also be hired if demand warrants it in the second half of next year.

Based in Niestetal and Kassel, north of Frankfurt, SMA
Solar Technology AG achieved more than a bilion dollars in sales last year and views the U.S. market as a key sector to continue its substantial growth. Sold under the brand names of Sunny Boy, Sunny Central and Sunny Island, SMA’s inverters convert the direct current generated by solar panels into an alternating current accessible to larger electrical grids.

“We see a huge market coming in the U.S.,” said Pierre-Pascal Urbon, the company’s chief financial officer. The new Denver plant will make it much easier for his company to market and sell inverter products in the U.S.

Why Denver? Urbon cited several of the same reasons given by other companies like Vestas — namely, the region’s educated workforce, the site’s proximity to Interstate 70, rail transportation and Denver International Airport. He also pointed out that the company will have lower operating costs, and the area’s focus on renewable-energy research were also behind the company’s decision to build here.

All reasons that are music to the ears of Governor Ritter, who has worked diligently to make Colorado a center for clean energy development. “We are creating economic opportunity,” Ritter said at a news conference, adding that creating core manufacturing jobs will help the state escape the recession sooner.

Pete Roskop, a representative with the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade, noted that Denver also had a new and ready-to-go building at Enterprise Park in Stapleton.

The State and Denver offered several sweeteners to the deal to encourage SMA to locate here including the contribution of approximately $3 million in economic incentives, with Denver contributing an additional $600,000., or thereabouts. About $1 million each will target job training, performance incentives and enterprise-zone tax credits. In addition, Denver will add money for relocation expenses, wage subsidies and job training.

Roskop said other states offered financial incentives that exceeded Colorado’s, but lower costs for items such as corporate taxes and worker’s compensation insurance helped Colorado’s position.

“It is not what we are giving so much as what we aren’t taking away,” he said.

SMA says it plans to begin production in the middle of 2010 with average annual pay for the jobs created in the $30,000 range. The company is already accepting applications for production and management positions, according to Urbon. Anyone interested in applying should go to the company’s website — sma-america.com, or email humanresources@sma.de.