SANTA FE — A German company this morning announced plans to build a solar technology manufacturing plant in Albuquerque's Mesa del Sol development that could one day employ 1,500 people.

Schott Solar, a subsidiary of Schott AG of Mainz, Germany, will break ground next month on a 200,000-square-foot facility - an initial $100 million investment that will, at first, employ 350 people to build receivers for concentrated solar thermal power plants and 64 megawatts worth of photovoltaic modules.

"These are the kinds of high-wage jobs we want here in New Mexico," Gov. Bill Richardson said during a news conference this morning at the Roundhouse.

The manufacturing plant is expected to be open sometime in 2009. The company over time hopes to increase its investment in New Mexico to $500 million, grow its plant to 800,000 square feet and employ 1,500 people - figures that, if reached, could make it the state's third-largest private employer, state officials said.

That optimism is based upon a solar energy market that is growing by 50 percent every year thanks to a increasing global energy demand and rising costs of dwindling fossil fuel resources, said Udo Ungeheuer, chairman of Schott's board of management.

"In one year's time, we will have transformed the desert in Mesa del Sol to one of the largest solar manufacturing sites in the country," Ungeheuer said.

The privately-held Schott chose New Mexico over three other undisclosed states that were narrowed from a search that included Mexico and Canada.

It was a courtship that began six months ago with a tour of the site south of Albuquerque International Sunport, and sealed with a handshake in a hotel in Manchester, N.H., where Richardson was campaigning during his recently aborted bid for president.

Mark Finocchario, president and CEO of Schott Solar, said the company was attracted to the abundance of sunlight in the Southwest as well as the state's commitment to renewable energy.

Richardson has mandated that 20 percent of the energy consumed in the state be renewable by 2020, with 4 percent of that coming from solar power.

Richardson also said he will be asking the Legislature - which opens its 2008 session Tuesday afternoon - to allocate $8 million in capital outlay money to go toward the construction of Schott's plant. He said there will be future capital outlay relay requests in subsequent legislative sessions.

The company also is eligible for other state incentives, such as a high-wage job tax credit equal to 10 percent of the wages and benefits for each new economic-base job created.

In return, the state expects to see an economic impact from the plant of more than $1 billion over 20 years.

The plant will be Schott's flagship plant in the United States, and will complement its facility in Billerica, Mass., which produces 300-watt photovoltaic solar modules.

The New Mexico plant will, at first, construct similar solar modules as well as receivers that generate the power at solar thermal power plants - facilities which operate much like steam power plants but use solar energy instead of burning fossil fuels.

The solar cells that generate power within photovoltaic modules will at first be shipped from a site in Germany, but will later be manufactured in Albuquerque, company officials said.

As its technology evolves the company hopes to expand the product line at the new plant.

Finocchario said the company plans to grow by 100 employees a year between 2009 and 2012.

"This enables us to dodge the recession," said Fred Mondragon, the state's secretary-designate for economic development. He said workers laid off at Intel's Rio Rancho manufacturing site could potentially find work at the new solar plant.

Schott's arrival is another apparent success for developer Forest City Covington, which has made the solar energy industry a target as it builds Mesa del Sol, a nearly 13,000-acre project south of the Sunport that is expected to one day be home to 37,500 people.

Advent Solar, an upstart solar technology firm, already is operating at Mesa del Sol.

"This reinforces our mission to make Mesa del Sol a showcase for renewable development," said Mike Daly, CEO of Forest City Covington.