Iberia Industrial Development Foundation Director Mike Tarantino was present at Thursday’s Kiwanis Club meeting to give an update on the busy year Iberia Parish has seen so far in regards to economic activity. 

The incoming First Solar manufacturing facility, Delta Biofuel in Patoutville, Cajun Industries at the Port of Iberia and of course the University of Louisiana at Lafayette Research Center upgrades were all discussed, with Tarantino providing details on where the parish was in seeing all of these projects completed. 

First Solar, which will be seeing about 1,100 brought to Iberia Parish, is close to completion with the workforce ready to start producing solar panels as soon as the doors open. 

Tarantino said there are many job opportunities available that will likely ramp up as the necessary equipment starts to come in to produce the solar panels that will be sold across the country. 

“You’re going to see a lot of activity in that area,” Tarantino said. “They are already sold out of the first year of product, which equals 17,000 solar panels a day.”

Distributing those panels will mean a lot of truck activity, and the warehouse being constructed on Jefferson Island Road is also almost near completion as well. 

Tarantino said there is interest from pallet companies that will be necessary to transport the panels, and have an interest in locating in the area. Vendors and other supplier opportunities are also coming, and Tarantino said a local supplier may have won the janitorial contract for First Solar. 

Delta Biofuel is already up and running, Tarantino said, with preliminary hiring finished. Construction to build an overpass near the sugar mill may be a future goal for Delta Biofuel as it also begins to meet its in the area. 

“We’re looking forward to them ramping up capacity,” Tarantino said. 

The recent announcement of Cajun Industries at the Port of Iberia has been another major parish win, with Tarantino saying that the company has upped their hiring limit from 400 people to about 650. 

The company works in the liquid natural gas industry that Lake Charles is becoming known for, and the port will be able to use the Intracoastal Waterway to transport the modules created right here. 

As for the UL Research Center, which local residents have been waiting years to see completed, Tarantino said construction is scheduled to begin sooner than later. Being a government project, the IDF director said work usually goes slower compared to private industries but the project is still ongoing. 

The center is in the process of upgrading its lab space that will produce vaccines and pharmaceuticals in the parish, and produce about 350-400 jobs for specialists. Tarantino said the research center has also drawn the attention of other companies that will benefit from the work being produced as well.