Beltsville-based SunEdison moving HQ to California

SunEdison LLC became the second large solar energy company to leave Maryland when it announced that its long-rumored move to California was official.

California Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. and SunEdison officials made the announcement Monday at the company’s new headquarters in Belmont, Calif. One of the main reasons behind the move, they said, was the passage of a bill in the California legislature that clarified tax law and allows the state’s solar energy property tax exclusion to apply to sale-leaseback transactions. Prior to this law, solar companies were taxed for transactions that commercial real estate owners were not.

“SunEdison’s decision to relocate to California is proof that, working together, state government and business can find ways to cut red tape, tackle our environmental problems and create jobs,” Brown said in a statement.

Company officials also cited the strong solar market in California and the available workforce as other reasons behind the move.

“Locating the SunEdison headquarters in California, the largest energy market in North America with a longstanding commitment to renewable energy, positions us to support better our customers,” Carlos Domenech, president of SunEdison, said in a statement. “Being in Silicon Valley gives us access to a wider talent and companies that are motivated to solve the supply and demand challenges that electric power faces. California has long been a trendsetter in technology, business innovation and caring for the environment. Being here will help us to make solar a viable and meaningful source of energy.”

Rumors that SunEdison planned to move to Belmont, a city of 26,000 located between San Francisco and San Jose, started in February. Company officials said at the time that they planned to increase their presence in the state but declined to say whether the headquarters move from Beltsville was a done deal.

The impact on the 400 jobs SunEdison has in Maryland was not immediately known. But, the San Francisco Business Times reported Monday that SunEdison planned to hire 400 people for the Belmont headquarters.

The loss of SunEdison, which was purchased by Missouri-based MEMC Electronic Materials Inc. in 2009, comes after BP Solar wound down its operations in Frederick in March 2010. The company started cutting back its 600-person workforce in 2009 after it decided to shift focus from manufacturing solar panels to designing and installing utility-scale solar facilities. The production jobs were moved out of the country.

BP Solar also shelved its plans to build a $100 million addition to the plant in February 2009 because of global competition. It had spent $30 million on the partially built facility, which it said in December it would dismantle after it failed to find a buyer or tenant.