Photo Credit: Aaron Hines / City of Greenville
Greenville Utilities’ ability to provide Boviet Solar with the needed volumes of electric, gas, and water services was one of the deciding factors as to whether the Vietnam-based company would bring its first manufacturing site in the United States to Greenville, NC.
Welcoming Boviet Solar to Greenville was a long time in the making, said Kathy Howard, Business Development Specialist. Kathy emphasized that utility needs and services are at the top of the list for companies and the main driver as to why large industries choose communities.
“Greenville’s excellent infrastructure allows Greenville Utilities to provide industrial-grade utility services promptly. ECU and Pitt Community College will supply ample technical labor and engineers. Plus, the Wilmington Port and well-connected highways offer convenient and reliable logistics support,” said Zhaochun “Jimmy” Xie, CEO and General Manager of Boviet Solar.
To supply the utility needs of Boviet, GUC applied for grant funding.
“In this case we got creative, they were in need of a substation to supply their energy needs, so we applied for and were awarded $4 million in grants,” Kathy said.
The Greenville ENC Alliance recruits industries to the area. GUC’s role is to serve the utility needs.
Kathy said the planning team is on calls a couple of times a week preparing for Boviet’s new facility and for them to begin manufacturing.
GUC’s extended planning and investment will help bring a projected $294 million in new capital investment and 1,300 new jobs into the community by the end of 2028.
Boviet completed its move-in to the old DENSO building last year and is constructing additional facilities, including a 455,400 square-foot building in the coming months.
“Boviet needs a substation due to its large projected electrical load that is required for its manufacturing process,” said Kyle Brown, Electric Planning Engineer.
Within that plan lies the construction of a 60MVA 115kV to 12.47kV substation with three 20MVA transformers.
Construction is set to begin by the end of this year, with an anticipated completion by the end of 2026.
Once at its projected full capacity, Boviet will become GUC’s largest utility customer. Boviet will also have 4MW of natural gas-powered peak shaving generators. When you combine this with their other gas usage, their anticipated usage will be approximately 104,500 cubic feet of natural gas per hour to be supplied by an 8-inch main.
“Boviet’s natural gas usage is a great load because they will be a year-round customer. During the first expansion phase, their gas usage will be dedicated to processed air associated with clean rooms for their solar panel production process. This means we will consistently be supplying natural gas to this large industrial customer which is quite different from the traditional heating load that peaks during the winter months. We are always excited to have off-peak sales when our pipeline gas prices are lowest,” said Gas Distribution Engineer Dillon Wade.
The company is also expected to discharge around 1 million gallons per day of wastewater that will flow through GUC’s Wastewater Treatment Plant.
Boviet will have its own mini wastewater treatment plant onsite to remove three chemicals produced during the manufacturing process.
GUC Laboratory Pretreatment Manager JoEllen Gay said, “They will be participating in the Pretreatment Program, so when their wastewater comes in, it won’t impair our facility.”
To prepare for large industry, JoEllen coordinates permits and wastewater pretreatment requirements to protect our water and ensure state and federal regulations are met.
“We are proactive with our customers like this,” she said.
“To provide good customer service, it would be incorrect for us to say they can be put on our system without regard to the waste water discharge. We work on pretreatment planning in advance of the industry arriving, so when that industry is ready to start up, they don’t have to do anything additionally. Everything will already be ready and safe.”
