Solar panel project set to employ 1,000 people in Oklahoma has stalled

Oct 26, 2024

(This story was updated to accurately reflect the most current information.)

A billion-dollar solar panel factory set to be built in Inola and touted by Gov. Kevin Stitt as the largest economic development project in state history has stalled.

Enel Spas, an Italian renewable energy company, has put the plan on hold because of money and politics. Construction on the plant was supposed to begin in fall 2023, with the first of the plant’s solar panels scheduled to be on the market by the end of 2024. The facility was supposed to create 1,000 “new direct permanent jobs” by 2025.

Construction, however, has yet to begin.

Matt Epting, a spokesman for Enel North America, confirmed the project had been delayed, as first reported in the U.S. by Reuters. He said Enel's 3SUN USA subsidiary was “currently engaged in finding a majority financial partner for the project.”

“This is a condition for the project to proceed to construction,” Epting said in an emailed statement to The Oklahoman. “The company will provide further updates in due course.”

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Lauded for its potential economic impact and its focus on renewable, clean energy, the Enel plant could dramatically change the small, northeastern Oklahoma town of Inola, a small community about 15 miles east of Tulsa.

Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt praised the project in a news release issued last year, calling it a historic announcement. “Enel’s expansion is a huge win for Oklahoma, and I’m thrilled by their record investment in our state’s economy and workforce, that will have a lasting legacy and continue to impact Oklahomans for generations," the governor said.

Oklahoma lawmakers passed a package of state incentives in 2023 for the facility valued at $180 million. Under that legislation, Enel North America would receive up to $36 million a year for the next five years as it built out its plant at the Tulsa Port of Inola.

While Stitt and state officials praised the company's plan to bring industry and jobs to northeastern Oklahoma, what the governor didn't say was, just a year before, he'd joined with Oklahoma's congressional delegation to harshly criticize the Inflation Reduction Act which was at the heart of Enel's expansion into Inola.

Detailed in a 17-page report called the "Top 5 Energy Trends for 2023," Enel said the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 could accelerate clean energy development across the country "with a fivefold increase in solar growth rates and a twofold increase in wind expected over the next several years."

Company officials described the legislation as an unprecedented opportunity for organizations to invest in a variety of clean energy solutions.

"In the largest clean energy investment in U.S. history, the Inflation Reduction Act will transform the energy landscape and critical infrastructure by incentivizing the adoption of clean energy technologies like solar photovoltaics, wind, battery energy storage, electric vehicles, and more," a posting on the Enel website said.

Stitt and other Oklahoma leaders, however, had a much more critical view of the legislation.

"Congress just passed a disastrous $740 billion spending bill that will raise taxes and supercharge the IRS to harass middle income families. We have to counteract this insanity," the governor said in a message on X, then known as Twitter, in 2022. "As everything is costing more, why would we increase inflation, why would we raise taxes on the middle class, why would we spend billions and billions worth of new spending, increasing out debt."

More:OK budget committee approves incentives worth $180 million for solar panel factory

Every member of Oklahoma's congressional delegation voted against the act.

At that same time, Congressman Kevin Hern, who represents the Tulsa area, said he'd received thousands of phone calls, text messages and emails from his constituents pleading with him to stop the Inflation Reduction Act from passing.

"They understand what half of this chamber does not … when the federal government spends more, American families have less," Hern said. "I find nothing redeemable in this legislation, and therefore urge my colleagues to give this a resounding no."

Now, with the Nov. 5 election less than two weeks away, the fate of Enel's Inola project and several other of its clean energy initiatives could depend on whether or not the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 survives.

“Enel, like other companies, wants to wait and see if the policies of the Inflation Reduction Act, which allocates $375 billion to renewable energy will be confirmed by the new administration,” Reuters reported.

Stitt's office did not respond to requests for comment about the status of the project.

Still, even though the project has stalled, officials at the Oklahoma Department of Commerce remain positive about the Inola project. Chase Horn, a spokesman for the agency, said in a statement to The Oklahoman that commerce officials consider the project active.

He said state incentives created for the project were based on performance, adding, "Enel has not received, and will not receive, taxpayer dollars until certain benchmarks have been met.”

Enel has had a presence in Oklahoma for more than a decade. It has a dozen wind farms scattered across the state and a facility in Oklahoma City where wind turbine mechanics are trained.