Energy Conscious HVAC Company to Bring 200 Jobs
Greg Wilson/Anderson Observer
Mojave Energy Systems, announced Wednesday plans to bring at least 200 new clean-energy manufacturing jobs to Anderson County over the next five years as part of a $4 million investment to manufacture its ArctiDry product here.
The company intends to “change the nature of air conditioning,” using Mojave's novel liquid desiccant technology, which uses half the energy and 20 percent less refrigerant than comparable incumbent HVAC.
In September, Mojave won a competitive $2.6M grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to support manufacturing scale-up and initial pilot projects, and the company chose Anderson as their initial site.
“Yet again, our investment in the economic development incubator space at 1428 Pearman Dairy Road is yielding dividends,” said Anderson County Council Chairman Tommy Dunn. “This project is providing technical, high skill jobs that will elevate the lives of our citizens, and I’m glad to see it happen.”
The Mojave system can "drop in" to existing HVAC infrastructure and requires minimal maintenance. Mojave is already running several field pilots and has the commercial rollout of the product slated for January 2024 at the AHR Expo.
Mojave's patented ArctiDry technology uses a high concentration salt solution to passively pull water from air. The cool, dry air is then delivered to the building, and the water-saturated liquid desiccant is reused by "regenerating" it (returning it to its useful high salinity state) using only waste heat from the system. This eliminates the need for external sources of heating or cooling. This process achieves double the moisture removal efficiency when compared to the traditional vapor compression units, both reducing cost of operation for customers and helping them achieve Net Zero compliance.
"Cleantech is a growing manufacturing opportunity for our country and Mojave is in a unique position to create U.S. jobs while significantly lowering its customers' energy expenses and climate impact," said Phil Farese, Mojave's CEO. "We appreciate the support of the Department of Energy, the state of South Carolina, and Anderson County to help us bring this important technology to market."
"Anderson County's labor market, real estate availability, and proximity to major highways and the Greer Inland Port, were all important factors in our selection process," said Robert Fancher, Mojave's vice president of manufacturing. "It is exciting to see this innovative technology that originated in a U.S. R&D lab, transfer into a U.S. manufacturing facility right here in South Carolina."
The South Carolina Coordinating Council for Economic Development approved Mojave's project as part of its Enterprise Program, under which Mojave will be eligible for up to $5 million in job development credits and other incentives including employment training services from readySC. In addition, Anderson County has granted Mojave access to its county-owned business incubator and additional local tax incentives.