Officials from Schott Solar, along with state and city officials held a cermonial ground-breaking Monday for the company's plannd solar technology plant in Albuquerque. The company plans to have a $100 million, 200,000 square-foot plant up and running with in a year, which will employ 350 people.

Long term plans call for the plant to quadruple in size and eventually employ up to 1500 people, with a local economic impact of more than $1 billion.

Schott Solar, a subsidiary of Mainz, Germany-based glass making giant Schott AG, will use the Albuquerque plant to produce solar panels. Plans call for Schott to eventually invest up to $500 million in the local facility and to eventually produce solar cells here.