GREENVILLE, N.C. (WITN) – A Vietnamese solar company says it will locate its first solar panel manufacturing facility in North America just outside of Greenville.

Gov. Roy Cooper says Boviet Solar will create 908 new jobs and invest more than $294 million for the new plant.

The company is buying the old DENSO plant on Sugg Parkway and will produce high-end solar panels and PV modules in a one-million-square-foot operation. It is also buying an adjacent 34-acre tract of land.

The company says the new jobs range from engineers to production workers with annual wages exceeding the county’s average salary of $50,937.

Boviet says it chose Pitt County over locations in Arizona and Georgia.

State officials say this is the largest number of jobs announced at one facility in the state so far this year.

The DENSO location has been vacant since it shut down last year, throwing nearly 500 out of work.