Zach Smith plugs in a LED streetlight to test it at Global Green Lighting’s new facility on Tuesday. Global Green Lighting has moved the production line for their energy-efficient street lighting back to Chattanooga from China.Don Lepard said he’s moving ahead with shifting production of his innovative streetlights to Chattanooga from China, with plans for 250 jobs here, in part because of worries about the security of the technology.
“I’m concerned about losing that to China,” he said.
The company’s chief executive has set up shop in 180,000 square feet of space in Hixson. He said he’s putting in production lines in the former Chattanooga Group space to make the light emitting diode street lamps which are combined with the latest smart grid metering technology.
Plans are to deliver 6,000 of the lights to the city of Chattanooga by the end of May, Lepard said. GGL will make another 20,000 if he’s given the OK, he said. In all, he put the project at about $18 million.
Currently he has about 40 workers on board, which is slated to grow to 100 by midsummer. Eventually, plans are to reach about 250 employees, Lepard said.