In many of the economic development circles that I run
around in, the discussion of who would win the new Tesla electric battery
production facility was always a hot topic. At one point, the Dallas area
was a contender and even the TexAmericas Center site in central Bowie County,
Texas was looked at by several lobbyists and others trying to land a deal for
Texas. But it’s not to be for Texas.
To learn more about the Tesla announcement read the article
in the link below…but also follow some of the sub links in the article.
Many local people have asked me why we couldn't have
competed for this plant. The answer is as simple as the sun in the
sky. Or lack thereof. The entire plant is planned to be powered by
solar power and Texarkana USA is not in a competitive solar gradient.
What that simply means is that there are other places in the USA that have
abundant sunshine and Texarkana USA isn't one of them. If you look at the
map below you will notice that Nevada offers a much higher concentration of
solar power potential than Texas does.
This is precisely the point most often overlooked by average
citizens trying to critique the efforts of economic developers. Companies
ultimately are accountable to shareholders and want to maximize return on their
investment in assets. They also need the skilled labor to make it
happen. There is only so much a state can do to offer incentives and
provide a world class business environment before locational advantages and
things we can’t control take over. Each business is different. In
this case, Elon Musk, may have preferred Texas, but if you are trying to build
a plant that is totally powered by the sun, you have to be where the sun
intensity is the highest in order to maximize one of your critical inputs to
production. That may have put the deal out of reach. Maybe not. But
part of deciding how to deploy capital is to minimize risks and the risk of the
sun not shining on your roof is one big issue in this case. Take a look
at the building design…
Retrieved: Tesla Motors
So, the job of local economic developers is not to chase
every possible deal. It is our job to chase the deals where we have an
obvious competitive advantage in helping a company create a sustainable low
cost of production, which in turn allows them to maximize their return on
investment. That is our challenge and that is what we are working hard
on.
-Bill Cork
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