(KRON) – California Forever, a group behind a proposed utopian community in Solano County, has released a list of potential employers committed to bringing jobs to the proposed new city north of Silicon Valley and San Francisco. The company says it can secure more than 15,000 “high-paying jobs” over the next decade.
In addition to proposing to build the largest solar farm in California, California Forever, also known as the East Solano Plan, has employers ranging from construction companies to AI-powered delivery robots.
“At a time when research shows that more than 40% of Solano employees leave the county for work, the news that these employers have committed to the East Solano Plan is significant,” California Forever said in a statement declaration.
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COMMITTED EMPLOYERS
The companies include:
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Hadrian (precision manufacturing for aerospace and defense)
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Living carbon (growing plants that capture more carbon)
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A lot of (indoor vertical farming)
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Serve robotics (self-driving robots that deliver your orders to your doorstep)
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Meter (internet infrastructure provider)
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Motive (fleet operations)
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BREX (financial services)
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Cover (manufacture of modern beautiful houses)
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Building a house (helping California homeowners monetize their extra lot space through subdivision)
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Zip line (drone delivery and logistics)
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Freethinking (media)
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Instant teams (customer experience teams built with military spouses)
East Solano Plan said these companies were attracted to Solano County “because of the qualities that already make it special” and the ability to plan their growth according to California Forever’s 40-year plan.
While groundbreaking is still a few years away, California Forever said some businesses have already begun negotiating terms for acquiring space to operate in the new community. Most will break ground if the ballot measure for the proposed city passes on this year’s November ballot.
SOLAR FARM
Beyond the dedicated third-party employers, the East Solano Plan includes approvals for construction of the largest solar farm in California, combined with a regional storage battery.
The solar farm would have a capacity of 2 gigawatts, enough to power about 1.5 million homes, according to California Forever. Additionally, the battery storage facility would be located on properties “far away from existing communities,” claiming the location would solve some of the challenges Solano cities previously faced when trying to establish such a facility.
A third-party consulting group prepared an economic impact report estimating that the project would create more than 1,300 jobs in the 10 years following the project’s estimated completion date, generating more than $280 million annually.
Aside from Six Flags and “health care,” California Forever claims the completion of the solar project would make it the largest private employer in Solano County.
“For too long, California has sent high-paying jobs to Texas and Florida. With the East Solano Plan, our county is well positioned to bring those jobs here. In the coming months, we look forward to sharing many more updates on our work to bring more good jobs, economic development and opportunity to Solano County,” said Michael Fortney, Head of Partnerships at California Forever.
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