According to a recent report coming out of Saginaw, Michigan, the California-based solar power company that was supposed to be creating a massive factory in the city has been scrapped. The motive behind such a sudden and unexpected decision came when the Chief Executive Office of GlobalWatts Inc. announced that it would be seizing on their plans of making a $177 million solar panel factory that was expected to create, at least, 500 jobs. Not only is this news unexpected and hazardous to the economic growth of the city and state, but many local are feeling rather betrayed after seemingly holding their breath on a new opportunity in a non-vehicle related industry.

Although a feeling of betrayal might be increasingly widespread among Michigan-natives, the San Jose-based GlobalWatts may not be completely at fault. First, CEO Sanjeev Chitre announced that the solar panel factory project is put on ‘hold’ and not cancelled just yet due to a struggling economy and lackluster international sales.

He went on to imply that the company would be right back towards making this solar factory project a reality after ‘fixing’ various factors that have been preventing them from pursuing it. The panel project was said to design various version of a “crystalline silicon solar panel” and that much of their international struggle has come as a result of the Chinese effort to export large orders of the panels at a substantially more affordable price.

This also isn’t the first time that various companies have attempted to pursue a solar-power related project in the Michigan-area. Even Saginaw, the city where GlobalWatts was forced to hold the development of a solar panel factory, has had bits of land dedicated to the development of solar technology, such as a 240-acre bit of land in Saginaw County Thomas Township set aside for the “pursuit of solar technology projects”.