Nation's largest pulsed-power manufacturing facility bound for Salt Lake County

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Texas-based Lunar Resources plans a new aerospace manufacturing facility in Salt Lake County.
• The Helix-1 factory aims to create 420 jobs and generate $48 million in new state tax revenue.
• Utah offers a 30% tax rebate if performance metrics are met over 10 years.

SALT LAKE CITY — Salt Lake County is set to become the home of a new aerospace manufacturing facility after the Utah Governor's Office of Economic Development last week approved a post-performance tax credit for Texas-based Lunar Resources.

Lunar Resources has proposed what it's calling a Helix-1 factory, expected to create 420 new jobs in the area and generate nearly $48 million in new state tax revenue.

"As we scale our manufacturing operations to meet growing demand for our revolutionary Helix Driver technology, finding a location that fosters innovation and growth was paramount," Elliot Carol, CEO of Lunar Resources, said in a statement. "Utah offers an exceptional talent pool and a highly supportive business environment that partners with companies to help ensure mutual success. We look forward to building deep roots here and continuing our mission to shape America's next frontier on Earth and in space."

A release from the Governor's Office of Economic Development said Lunar Resources specializes in "pulsed power" technology and systems — essentially, a specialized form of electricity that involves extremely high power pulses of energy in short bursts, "critical to defense, energy, power transmission, and industrial power systems."

"Unlike continuous power systems, which provide a steady flow of energy, pulsed power technologies release energy in intense, high-powered pulses, allowing for customizable energy delivery tailored to specific applications," said a section of Lunar Resources' website.

The proposed Salt Lake County facility is expected to be the largest pulsed power manufacturing facility in the nation.

"Lunar Resources' proposed expansion will help elevate Utah's position as a leader in cutting-edge manufacturing and technologies," Jefferson Moss, commissioner of the Governor's Office of Economic Development, said in a statement. "Their pioneering technology aligns with our future-focused mindset and will serve as a powerful economic catalyst. We are optimistic about how this groundbreaking work will create opportunities for Utahns for many years to come."

Unlike other states, Utah doesn't offer up-front incentives; instead, it awards companies only after performance benchmarks are met.

The incentive is part of the state's Economic Development Tax Increment Financing program.

Under the incentive, if Lunar Resources meets its proposed metrics, the company will receive a 30% state tax rebate at the end of its 10-year project.

In January, the Governor's Office of Economic Development awarded Delaware-based Integrated Rail and Resources a post-performance tax credit reduction in a move projected to add 40 new, high-paying jobs and invest more than $87 million in the state's economy over the next six years under the agreement.

The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.

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Logan Stefanich

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Logan Stefanich is a reporter with KSL, covering southern Utah communities, education, business and tech news.