Jump to content

Energy Jobs Coming to Charlotte


HopHead

Recommended Posts

Word came out today that Toshiba will bring over 100 energy-related jobs to the Charlotte area. An official announcement is said to be made on Tuesday. This is part of an initiative by area leaders to bring more Energy related jobs to the area. Wonder if this will be the beginning of something new for our area? With Duke Energy being based here, it begs the question on whether Charlotte can become a hub for energy-sector jobs?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 71
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Across the street from Areva is also EPRI (Electric Power Research Institute) which houses one of their principal offices here in Charlotte. They have also been hiring jobs (not as many as Areva). Also, energy jobs would be a large benefit to have here as there is a strong pool for the engineers and scientists from Duke (similarly how we have a large banking pool, which has helped a land banking jobs here) and UNC Charlotte will soon begin construction on their EPIC building which focuses for the education and research of energy. I believe both Duke, Areva, and EPRI have incidently become sponsors for this building.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This actually used to be Duke Energy's engineering division for nuclear power design. Duke Energy used to design its own nuclear plants in conjunction with Westinghouse which had a location on (surprise) Westinghouse Blvd. They were considered the best in the world at. Mcquire Nuclear complex is considered one of the best designed and operated reactors of its type and it once used to receive visitors from many countries (including the former Soviet Union) to see how they did it.

In the early 2000s when Duke was wanting to be like Enron and dabble in the speculation of unregulated power, they sold off this division to the French. This was in conjunction with many American companies who began to devalue its technical assets and either outsourced or sold off the assets to foriegn companies who were quite happy and surprised the USA would do such a thing. It was an irresponsible corporate move IMO. In any case once it was done Areva proceeded to move the employees they inherited from Duke from downtown to a portion of the old IBM facility off Harris Blvd. Ironically they are in the same building were a trading floor for the now defunct Enron was built.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Across the street from Areva is also EPRI (Electric Power Research Institute) which houses one of their principal offices here in Charlotte. They have also been hiring jobs (not as many as Areva). Also, energy jobs would be a large benefit to have here as there is a strong pool for the engineers and scientists from Duke (similarly how we have a large banking pool, which has helped a land banking jobs here) and UNC Charlotte will soon begin construction on their EPIC building which focuses for the education and research of energy. I believe both Duke, Areva, and EPRI have incidently become sponsors for this building.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

A lot of neighbors in our building in uptown work for Shaw Energy. They do electric and nuclear engineering, anchor the First Citizens building, and have been moving a lot of folks from Texas and other locations to here for a few years now. They do international work and a couple neighbors work out of here on huge projects in China.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am real happy to hear about these jobs. One thing I wonder, will these jobs that we are getting from Siemens and Toshiba make that big of a difference in the Charlotte economy? We've lost some thousands of jobs but we're gaining only hundreds. I am not trying to sound pessimistic but I think in order for this energy thing to work in Charlotte we need something big to happen.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am real happy to hear about these jobs. One thing I wonder, will these jobs that we are getting from Siemens and Toshiba make that big of a difference in the Charlotte economy? We've lost some thousands of jobs but we're gaining only hundreds. I am not trying to sound pessimistic but I think in order for this energy thing to work in Charlotte we need something big to happen.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Agreed. It won't make up for the jobs that have been lost all at once... It will be a gradual thing. It's important to remember that the financial sector is taking at hit, but Charlotte city leaders are also focusing on other industries for more diversification. I read an article somewhere the other day (I have to find the link) that said there's an IT company (think Apple or Yahoo) looking at the region for an investment in the neighborhood of $1 billion. This might be more of a "bang" that you're thinking of...

EDIT: Here's the link I was referring to: $1 Billion Investment?. It is from the Biz Journals so take it for what it's worth I suppose... "Potentially" big news.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't disagree. But this simply means the business climate in Charlotte is no better than anywhere else as was claimed. In fact it might mean that it is troubled because government incentives for jobs normally go to areas that can't attract them otherwise.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't disagree. But this simply means the business climate in Charlotte is no better than anywhere else as was claimed. In fact it might mean that it is troubled because government incentives for jobs normally go to areas that can't attract them otherwise. Everyone on this forum said this about Lenior when the state paid Google to put jobs there. They said this when they paid Dell to put jobs in the Triad. I am not sure why there is such a double standard.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't think you can say that definitively if you don't know if other potential cities were on their list and how much their respective states offered in the way of incentives. There are other states that are much more willing to whore themselves for new jobs than North Carolina is. Now I'm not saying that incentives don't play a major role, because they obviously do. As I stated, sometimes companies talk about other locations for expansion just to milk more out of the city they were planning to expand in the whole time (e.g., Lenovo in Greensboro). But I do think there are other factors besides incentives that play a role as well.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.