By Scott Miller
smiller@scbiznews.com
Published Oct. 26, 2009

The $15.1 million federal grant that Kemet Corp. recently received to support development of electric cars will give the company a foot in the door of the growing U.S. alternative energy industry.

It also will contribute to the resurgence of a company that has just recently relieved itself of a heavy debt load that once weighed on earnings and growth, said Kemet CEO Per Loof.

Kemet announced the grant from the U.S. Department of Energy in August. Today, the Simpsonville-based company gave a tour of its plant, which will be retrofitted to manufacture large capacitors for use in hybrid and electric vehicles. Kemet will hire at least 113 people at an average salary of $50,000 to do the work, Loof said.

“The focus on green technology here in the U.S. makes me cautiously optimistic. As some said, ‘Tough times don’t last. Tough people do,’” Loof said. “For us, the growth in the green market is essential.”

The large film and electrolytic capacitors, pictured at left, that the U.S. Department of Energy tapped for use in an initiative to boost electric vehicle production also have applications in wind and water turbines, among other emerging energy technologies, Loof said.

The production of these capacitors, Loof said, likely would have been done in Mexico if Kemet did not receive the federal grant.

Gov. Mark Sanford, who attended this morning’s event, said Kemet’s adaptation to the alternative energy world “should be an inspiration for the rest of us as South Carolinians.”

Kemet is not only emerging in a new industry, it’s also bringing manufacturing back to Simpsonville. The company has some test production, but most of the full-scale production has been outsourced to China and Mexico over the past two decades.

At one time, the company had around 2,000 employees in the Upstate. Today it has 450.

Kemet had been delisted by the New York Stock Exchange in January because its company stock was trading below $1 per share. In its most recent quarterly report, however, Loof said the company reached a turning point. In the quarter ended June 30, net income was $25.1 million, compared to net loss of $189.4 million for the same quarter last year and net income of $2.4 million for the prior quarter.