Mark Robison, Anjeanette Damon, Bill O'Driscoll, and Ray Hagar

REN

Tesla Motors' coveted $5 billion battery gigafactory appears in Northern Nevada's grasp.

Gov. Brian Sandoval on Wednesday said he will make a major economic development announcement and that Tesla executives will be in attendance at a 4 p.m. news conference today at the Capitol in Carson City.

According to a source close to legislative leaders, the announcement will be that a special session as soon as next week will consider a tax abatement package for Tesla, which has selected Northern Nevada for the gigafactory.

"Gov. Sandoval is ready to produce an incentives and abatement package," the source, requesting anonymity, said of the special session likely to last one or two days.

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The package will address Tesla's stated expectation that the winning state put up as much as 10 percent of the project's cost, or up to $500 million, in benefits and incentives.

Word of Tesla's apparent decision to build the gigafactory at the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center 17 miles east of Sparks spread fast across the Internet world Wednesday, more than a month after the company disclosed it had prepared a massive dirt pad in the business park in Storey County.

In July, Tesla cited an agreement earlier Thursday between Tesla and Panasonic Corp. for proceeding with the gigafactory.

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"Tesla looks forward to joining Gov. Sandoval and legislative leaders tomorrow in Carson City for a major economic development announcement," Tesla spokeswoman Liz Jarvis-Shean said in a brief email to the Reno Gazette-Journal.

Nevada officials Wednesday held back on full disclosure. But it appears that Nevada has beaten four other states, including California, Tesla's home state, for the lithium ion battery manufacturing plant to be as big as 10 million square feet and employ 6,500 people.

"I must be careful. I don't want to steal any thunder. But I believe we'll get a very positive announcement of some kind," said Lance Gilman, co-developer of the 106,000-acre Tahoe Reno Industrial Center.

He added, "I've been invited" to the news conference.

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Sandoval stayed on message Wednesday, confirming at an event revealing Nevada's fourth silver sesquicentennial medallion that he will make a major economic development announcement today and that Tesla executives will be in attendance. He would reveal no details about the company's decision to locate its battery factory in Nevada or the tax incentive package he put together to draw it here.

But Sandoval also said he is talking to legislative leaders about how to convene a special session to approve what is expected to be a massive tax incentive package.

"We are still meeting with legislative leaders," he said outside a ceremony to commemorate a special sesquicentennial medallion.

Asked whether lawmakers and the public will have enough time to vet the tax incentive deal, Sandoval answered: "Let's not get ahead of ourselves."

Sandoval grimaced when asked about who in his office spoke to CNBC, which broke the story that Tesla had settled on Nevada for its giant battery factory.

His spokeswoman said whoever the unnamed source was, he or she was not speaking for the governor's office.

Tesla has said it wants the gigafactory operating by 2017 to make batteries for its upcoming Model 3 electric car.

"It sounds like they might do it. This is the biggest thing to ever happen in Nevada, no question," said Bob Tregilus of the Electric Auto Association of Northern Nevada.

"For TRIC, it'll be like a laser beam to all investors in high-tech to look at that location. A lot of people want to be next to Tesla," he said. "I've had engineers from all over the world wanting to know about Nevada, it's that important."

Nevada economic development officials declined to comment Wednesday ahead of today's news conference in Carson City.

But Karl Brauer, senior analyst at Kelley Blue Book, an automotive vehicle valuation company based in Irvine, Calif., said in an email that the gigafactory is a "critical step" in Musk's plans and Nevada "has a lot to offer" as Tesla's gigafactory location.

"The state is very business friendly, it's relatively close to Tesla's assembly plant in Fremont, Calif., and Nevada has an extremely sunny climate, supporting Musk's desire to incorporate solar energy into the plant's manufacturing process," Brauer said.

Since Tesla announced the gigafactory project last winter, Nevada, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and, later, California, have been in the running.

In May, Tesla said it would, starting in June, select at least two states for preparation work to minimize delays in its goal of selecting a final site by year's end.