Buffalo is a city known for snow. It is not the first place one would think to build a solar panel factory. But the city will soon be the home of the largest such manufacturing facility in the Western Hemisphere, according to SolarCity, the San Mateo, Calif.-based company that is set to begin moving into the complex later this year.
Set on an 88-acre former steelmaking site, the 1.2- million-sq-ft building is about one-third of a mile long, yet the entire project is being built in 18 months. It was imbued with a sense of urgency from the start, pushed by the desire of Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) to make things happen quickly. That pace is reflected in the fact that the original size of the building was increased fivefold, but the schedule remained the same.