“I see no reason why our overall presence in Massachusetts, our overall footprint, would not continue to grow,’’ Eftekhar said in an interview yesterday.
The Philips Lightolier plant, which makes recessed and track lighting products for the retail and hospitality sectors, employs more than 400 in Fall River.
Philips, Eftekhar added, has shifted production and jobs from Canada to Fall River, as the company has invested in the plant to upgrade its manufacturing capabilities. In recent years, the facility has reduced its electricity and natural gas use by roughly 40 percent, its water use by nearly 80 percent, and its chemical emissions by nearly 100 percent.
The wind turbine is more than 400 feet tall, the tallest structure in Fall River, and is expected to make the plant more competitive, said Eftekhar. Once connected to the region’s power grid, it is expected toproduce up to 70 percent of the Fall River plant’s electricity needs - or enough to power about 500 homes.
The $4.5 million project was evaluated, designed, and built with the support of nearly $540,000 in grants from the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, which promotes the state’s efforts to increase nonpolluting energy sources, such as wind and solar.
Governor Deval Patrick has made it a goal to have 2,000 megawatts of wind power capacity installed in Massachusetts by 2020. When the Philips turbine begins producing electricity - sometime this spring - the state will have reached 46 megawatts, or 2.3 percent of that goal.
By the end of the year, state officials say they expect to have 135 megawatts worth of wind power being produced in the state, up from less than 4 megawatts when Patrick took office.
Yesterday, company and local officials lauded the Philips turbine as an example of how the state and private companies can work together to address environmental issues and create jobs in a city like Fall River, which has one of the highest unemployment rates in the state.
Unemployment in Fall River topped 12 percent in December, compared to less than 7 percent statewide.
The project was built with the help of local contractors and union workers, and provided work for several hundred people.
“Let’s continue to work together to ensure that this facility continues to grow into the 21st century, and continues to provide much needed employment to this region,’’ said state Senator Michael J. Rodrigues, the Democrat from Westport whose district includes Fall River.
