Elon Musk, chairman of Tesla, is also chairman of SolarCity, which is in line to cash in on the Buffalo Billion program through Empire State Development. In June SolarCity bought Silevo, a fledgling solar panel manu
facturer that had previously committed to building a plant in Buffalo. The state had already agreed back in November to build and equip plants for Silevo and Soraa, an LED lighting manufacturer, at a cost of $225 million, but since purchasing Silevo, SolarCity executives have floated the prospect of a bigger plant employing more people— which, of course, would require more government assistance.