{"id":7716,"date":"2012-05-30T08:00:48","date_gmt":"2012-05-30T14:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/?p=7716"},"modified":"2012-06-26T13:56:18","modified_gmt":"2012-06-26T19:56:18","slug":"idahos-transform-solar-received-1-million-in-state-training-grants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/2012\/05\/30\/idahos-transform-solar-received-1-million-in-state-training-grants\/","title":{"rendered":"Idaho’s Transform Solar Received $1 Million In State Training Grants"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Transform Solar<\/p>

Transform Solar makes Photovoltaic solar cells. The Nampa manufacturer has about 250 employees.<\/p><\/div>\n

This story has been updated, you can read the updated version right here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

A Nampa-based solar company partly owned by Micron Technology<\/a> will close its doors and lay-off about 250 people over the next three months.<\/p>\n

Transform Solar was a joint venture between Boise-based Micron Technology and Australian energy company \u201cOrigin.\u201d The company launched in 2009, making high-tech solar cells.<\/p>\n

Micron<\/a> spokesman Dan Francisco says Transform Solar hasn\u2019t been able to withstand the ongoing challenges in the solar industry.\u00a0 He says it\u2019s an industry that\u2019s been hard hit by the down economy.\u00a0\u00a0 “The solar industry continues to be a very challenging environment,” Francisco says, “with a really unfavorable worldwide supply and demand situation.” <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Workforce Development Training Fund Background<\/h3>\n

The Workforce Development Training Fund<\/a> started in 1997 as a way to encourage business expansion or relocation from another state.\u00a0 The training dollars are used to help employees who would otherwise lose their job if they didn\u2019t advance their skills.<\/p>\n

The fund is paid for by businesses.\u00a0 Three percent of the unemployment insurance tax paid by employers is set aside for the pool of grant\u00a0money.<\/p>\n

In order to qualify for the training grants, businesses must pay their employees at least $12 an hour and provide health benefits.\u00a0 Companies in urban areas must create a minimum of five new jobs, rural businesses need one in order to qualify.<\/p>\n

Eligible companies must generate at least half of its revenue from products or services sold outside of Idaho, or be in the health care sector.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Transform Solar received a $3.6 million workforce development training grant<\/a> in 2010 from the state of Idaho.\u00a0 The latest available data shows Transform was reimbursed for just over $1 million in training costs through that grant<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Idaho Department of Labor says when a company gets workforce development money, and then closes, the hope is those employees at the very least have received some additional training and skills that will help them in their next job.<\/p>\n

Transform Solar employees will get severance pay and the opportunity to apply for open Micron positions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This story has been updated, you can read the updated version right here. A Nampa-based solar company partly owned by Micron Technology will close its doors and lay-off about 250 people over the next three months. Transform Solar was a joint venture between Boise-based Micron Technology and Australian energy company \u201cOrigin.\u201d The company launched in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":7718,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[13],"tags":[145,135,74,165],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7716"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7716"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7716\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8575,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7716\/revisions\/8575"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}