Firth Rixson Announces the Grand Opening of its Georgia Based Aerospace Forging Facility

/PRNewswire/ -- Firth Rixson, a major provider of forged and specialty metal products to the Aerospace industry, announced today the Grand Opening of Firth Rixson Forgings LLC, the Company's fourth closed die forging operation, located in Liberty County, GA. The announcement was made during a two day Customer Appreciation event held at the facility, attended by representatives from every major aero engine manufacturer worldwide, many of their partners, and significant industrial gas turbine producers.

The most significant expansion in the Company's history, the Firth Rixson Forgings LLC facility was custom designed and built to provide rotating components for aircraft engines, with applications ranging from regional jet to wide body aircraft, as well as land based turbines. The manufacturing process will take place in three separate buildings, dedicated respectively to pre forge, forge, and post forge activities, totaling 200,000 square feet of floor space. Modular construction within each of the building structures provides Firth Rixson Forgings LLC extraordinary flexibility in response to customer and market demand.

In announcing the opening of the facility, David C. Mortimer, CEO of Firth Rixson, said, "Firth Rixson has completed a decisive move in the Aerospace industry. Within one year of announcing its construction, Firth Rixson Forgings LLC is fully operational. The technical organization assembled for this facility is industry leading. Our facilities, equipment and installations are of world class caliber. Today, Firth Rixson advances its prominent position in the Aerospace industry by delivering a broadened service to our valued customers."

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Suniva Awarded $5.7 Million in Clean Energy Manufacturing Tax Credits

(BUSINESS WIRE)--Suniva®, Inc., a U.S. based high-efficiency solar manufacturer, today announced it received $5.7 million in Recovery Act Advanced Manufacturing Tax Credits to expand its solar cell manufacturing facility in Norcross, GA.

“In little more than a year, Suniva built the capacity to produce hundreds of millions of dollars worth of solar technology, and we’ve created over 130 green jobs in the process”

Suniva started producing monocrystalline solar cells at its Norcross facility in October 2008 and now operates two solar cell production lines with an annual capacity of 100 MW. Currently, Suniva is preparing to construct its third manufacturing line in Norcross, which will increase production capacity by 75 percent and create more than 50 manufacturing jobs in 2010.

“In little more than a year, Suniva built the capacity to produce hundreds of millions of dollars worth of solar technology, and we’ve created over 130 green jobs in the process,” said Suniva CEO John Baumstark. “These tax credits enable us to continue expanding and supplying the rapidly growing American solar market with products developed in American laboratories and made by American workers.”

Suniva’s technology was developed through research conducted by Suniva founder and CTO Dr. Ajeet Rohatgi at the University Center for Excellence in Photovoltaics (UCEP), a U.S. Department of Energy-funded laboratory. Suniva’s solar cells and modules are installed globally in solar systems in the United States, Europe and Asia, including India’s first large-scale solar project located in West Bengal.

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Georgia-Pacific Announces Interest in Acquisition of Certain Grant Forest Products Facilities

/PRNewswire/ -- Georgia-Pacific announced today that it has signed an agreement to acquire Grant Forest Products' oriented strand board (OSB) facility at Englehart, Ontario and the associated facility at Earlton, Ontario, as well as its OSB facilities at Allendale and Clarendon, S.C., for approximately $400 million.

Grant Forest Products intends to seek approval of the agreement in the near future from the Canadian Court overseeing Grant's Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act case and a United States Bankruptcy Court.

"These are world-class facilities that fit strategically with our current wood products operations and we are pleased with this opportunity to grow our OSB business in Canada and the U.S.," said Mark Luetters, president - Georgia-Pacific Wood Products. "We look forward to closing this deal and having these facilities, and the employees who operate them, join the Georgia-Pacific family."

Georgia-Pacific intends to operate the OSB manufacturing facilities that employ more than 300 people in Ontario and at Allendale, S.C. At the Clarendon plant, Georgia-Pacific plans to complete the unfinished construction and begin operations as soon as market conditions allow, which will entail employing more than 100 people in Clarendon County. In addition, Georgia-Pacific plans to make capital investments worth several million dollars to improve facilities and deliver enhanced reliability and efficiencies.

The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2010, following appropriate Canadian and U.S. regulatory review and court approval.

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QualityTech Launches Major Data Center Expansion in Atlanta

(BUSINESS WIRE)--Quality Technology Services (QualityTech), one of the nation’s largest privately-held providers of data center facilities and managed services, announced yesterday a 130,000 square foot build-out in its Metro data center located near downtown Atlanta. This expansion will be supported by the funds from QualityTech’s recent $150 million partnership with growth equity investor General Atlantic.

“Our partnership with General Atlantic has allowed QualityTech to start the next step in our phased build-out of the Metro Atlanta Data Center facility,” said Mark Waddington, President of QualityTech. “The addition of over 130,000 square feet of raised floor space and supporting infrastructure positions this facility as one of the world’s largest and most technologically-advanced data center facilities.”

Two large raised-floor pods will be added to the facility’s existing raised-floor footprint of 200,000 square feet. This expansion will complete 65% of the planned raised-floor capacity of the massive 990,000 square feet building and provide a total of 330,000 square feet of customer-ready raised floor. As QualityTech continues expanding its data center footprint, it becomes more important to develop innovative solutions in data center design, including the adoption of environmentally sustainable design practices. QualityTech’s design-build team has committed itself to follow philosophies and strategies for LEED certification, as outlined by the US Green Building Council and is planning to obtain LEED certification.

The Metro facility’s expansion will feature next-generation and green systems, including a Facilities Lab to test new energy conservation initiatives. The lab will focus on air and water economization technologies as well as new developments in power distribution and consumption technology. QualityTech will also deploy advanced cooling and delivery methods to the floor that will allow customers to reach even higher levels of power density. This coupled with many other improvements will make this QualityTech’s Greenest Data Center to date.

Over the past several years, QualityTech has steadily expanded its data center footprint to encompass more than two million square feet of data center real estate with 750,000 square feet of raised floor in production. QualityTech offers state-of-the-art data center solutions across the United States in New York, New Jersey, Florida, and Silicon Valley, California; and two of the largest facilities in the country located in Georgia including a one million square feet facility in Atlanta. Focused on providing flexible options, QualityTech hosts more than 1,000 customers ranging from a single cabinet to 100,000+ square feet custom suites. QualityTech caters to customized solutions that meet the diverse needs of large enterprise customers and currently has space ready for deployment in sizes up to 20,000 square feet in Atlanta and up to 15,000 square feet in Santa Clara. The company’s full suite of advanced managed service offerings includes network, operating system and storage solutions.

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Vega Picks Tennessee Firm to Assist with Construction of Biomass Plant in Georgia

/PRNewswire/ -- Vega Promotional Systems, Inc. (Pink Sheets: VGPR) today announced it has chosen Chattanooga, TN based consulting firm, Tennessee Power Company, Inc. to assist the Company in building a biomass production facility in Georgia.

Vega recently announced its intention to build a biomass plant in Georgia to take advantage of the abundance of biomass materials in the State's Bioenergy Corridor. Georgia ranks third in the nation as a potential source of renewable energy. Approximately 50 million tons of Georgia's own timber ends up in the State's wood-products manufacturing plants every year and the industry returns nearly half of it in the form of primary mill wood debris.

Vega's Business Plan calls for manufacturing facilities to be constructed in various locations around the world. The Georgia plant would be the Company's first in the United States and would serve as a model facility for other plants in the U.S.

Biomass or biofuel is material derived from recently living organisms. This includes plants, animals and their bi-products. For example, manure, garden waste and crop residues are all sources of biomass. It is a renewable energy source based on the carbon cycle, unlike other natural resources such as petroleum, coal, and nuclear fuels. The use of biomass fuels can therefore contribute to waste management as well as fuel security and help to prevent global warming

The Company markets various products including energy efficient pellet fuel made from organic waste bi-products using unique and innovative ideas combined with proven technology. The Company's current expansion includes building manufacturing plants in various international locations that will produce biomass products and bio-diesel products for power generation units. It is estimated that in the next five years the biomass industry will become a $20 billion industry.

Certain statements in this release constitute forward-looking statements or statements which may be deemed or construed to be forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The words "forecast," "project," "intend," "expect," "should," "would," and similar expressions and all statements, which are not historical facts, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve and are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which could cause the Company's actual results, performance (finance or operating) or achievements to differ from future results, performance (financing and operating) or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.

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