GOED board approves tax abatements for four Nevada projects, including solar‑panel recycling and a $300M data center

Reno — The Nevada Governor's Office of Economic Development board approved tax incentives on Feb. 5 for four separate projects aimed at expanding advanced manufacturing, solar‑panel recycling and data‑center capacity in the state.

Amanda Berry Jones, EDON's director of business development, presented Ampersand Inc.'s application for a Reno facility that would house research and manufacturing of solid‑state transformers. With GOED support, Ampersand requested sales‑and‑use, modified business and personal‑property tax abatements. Berry Jones said Ampersand plans to invest more than $18,000,000 and hire 62 employees within two years, with an average wage of $55.50 per hour. Maria Martinez Enriquez, the company's director for new product introduction, told the board the facility will perform development, design, validation and manufacturing and that the company expects to scale to roughly 500 megawatts of transformer capacity over two to five years. "That's for every employee that joins, first day on their onboarding process. They get a 100% of the insurance," Martinez Enriquez said, describing employee benefits. The board approved the abatement by voice vote.

The board also approved an abatement for Comstock Metals LLC to establish a solar‑panel recycling operation in Lyon County. Hayden Poignier of the Northern Nevada Development Authority and Judd Merrill, chief financial officer for Comstock Metals, said the facility would employ 43 full‑time staff at an average wage of $41.51 and represent nearly $12,000,000 in capital investment. Merrill described a certified process that, he said, recovers aluminum, glass beads and a granular metal concentrate rich in silver and other metals without using water or chemicals. "We were certified by a group called R2V3," Merrill said, adding the pilot has operated in Silver Springs for two years and the company expects the plant to be running by the end of the second quarter. The abatement was approved by voice vote.

FutureForm Manufacturing — presented by Veronica Chavez of EDON and company president Ben Thomas — won approval for an expansion of its Sparks facility to 103,000 square feet to support data‑center and artificial‑intelligence infrastructure work. Chavez said FutureForm will invest $10,700,000 in capital equipment and hire about 100 employees within two years at an average wage of $31.80 per hour, with benefits including medical coverage and tuition assistance. The board approved the abatement by voice vote.

Finally, the board approved a 10‑year data‑center tax abatement for SVR Reno Property RM1 LLC in Story County. Vishwas Shringi, representing the applicant, said the project would build a 200‑megawatt data center with more than $300,000,000 of capital investment and about 14 full‑time positions averaging $54.29 per hour. Shringi told the board the applicant is in active conversations with a customer and with NV Energy on capacity; he said the project has planned delivery from 2027 through 2030. The board approved the abatement by voice vote.

Votes at a glance: Each approval was taken by voice vote during the meeting; the transcript records motions, seconding and the chair calling for "ayes," and each motion passed. Individual roll‑call vote tallies by member name were not captured in the record.

The board's approvals come amid GOED's broader effort to recruit advanced manufacturing and data‑center investment and to expand solutions for end‑of‑life solar panels. Several presenters emphasized workforce partnerships with University of Nevada campuses, Truckee Meadows Community College and Western Nevada College as part of recruitment and training plans.

The board moved on after the approvals to other agenda items, including a WIN Fund workforce proposal and GOED metrics report.