Globe Specialty Metals, a silicon manufacturer, reopened its Niagara Falls, N.Y., plant, creating 138 jobs. The company restarted its two furnaces and upgraded the equipment used to produce approximately 30,000 tons of metallurgical-grade silicon each year. Globe’s initial investment of $27 million is part of the first phase of a $60 million two-phase economic-development project. Phase I included modernizing and improving emission-control equipment along with demolishing old structures and removing unnecessary equipment.

Phase II of the project will include the construction of a new 100,000-square-foot, $35 million facility to convert Globe’s metallurgical-grade silicon into 4,000 tons of upgraded metallurgical-grade silicon each year – enough to produce 500 MW of solar power. The project is expected to create a total of 500 new jobs.