After announcing plans last spring to expand its manufacturing into Albuquerque, Universal Hydrogen will receive millions of dollars from the City of Albuquerque and the state to fuel those efforts.
The city council on Wednesday unanimously approved the Local Economic Development Act incentives for the Hawthorne, Calif.-based company. Of the $12 million in LEDA money, the City of Albuquerque will contribute $2 million and $10 million will come from the State of New Mexico.
The City of Albuquerque will act as the fiscal agent for the LEDA incentives, which are typically used as a way to grow existing New Mexico businesses and recruit others to the state. LEDA funding was part of early New Mexico efforts to bring Universal Hydrogen to Albuquerque, previous Albuquerque Business First reporting shows.
Universal Hydrogen intends to apply for industrial revenue bonds in the future, according to comments presented during the city council meetingthe company hopes to begin manufacturing at the facility by 2024, Business First reported in March.
"This is an important opportunity to create transformative jobs for locals and increase our city's stock as a destination for world-class aerospace and aviation development," Terry Brunner, the acting director of economic development for the City of Albuquerque, said in a prepared statement.
The LEDA money will go toward the acquisition and construction of a new manufacturing facility in Albuquerque, according to a news release. The facility will be located at the Aviation Center of Excellence near the Albuquerque International Sunport. Construction of the facility is expected to create more than 1,200 jobs, and Universal Hydrogen anticipates investing more than $254 million in New Mexico through the manufacturing facility project, per previous Business First reporting.
Universal Hydrogen plans to hire and retain at least 500 employees with salaries averaging at $71,000 in Albuquerque over the next six years, according to the ordinance and project memo.
Wednesday's news release notes that Universal Hydrogen could create approximately $708 million in total economic impact in New Mexico over the next 10 years.
Founded in 2020, the company builds modules that can safely transport hydrogen long distances via airplanes. It's also developing a hydrogen-fueled propulsion system that it wants to use to retrofit regional aircraft.
The Aviation Center of Excellence, where Universal Hydrogen plans to build its manufacturing facility, is an 82-acre parcel with direct runway access and close proximity to Kirtland Airforce Base and Sandia National Laboratories. It was the site of a proposed satellite launching project by Theia Group Inc. that city officials then backed away from in December 2021.
American Airlines made an equity investment in Universal Hydrogen in October. The company has raised a total of $82.5 million, the bulk coming from a $62.5 Series B round announced in October 2021, according to Crunchbase data.
Jon Gordon, Universal Hydrogen's co-founder and general counsel, previously told Business First that the company chose New Mexico for expansion out of six states.
"You have a sophisticated engineering workforce — a history of a really smart workforce — and the education system," Gordon told Business First. "Those things work together here in a way that they don't in other states."
