SCHENECTADY -- President Barack Obama shares something with the Electric City's civic leaders: the belief that green jobs and technological innovation will help reignite America's once-sleeping industrial giant in a new economy for a new century.

The President will visit the General Electric campus during a trip to the region Tuesday, three people with knowledge of the trip confirmed. A White House official confirmed the President plans to make his second trip to the Capital Region since he took office in 2009, but a detailed itinerary has not been released.

"I'm very proud of our city and the wonderful things that we've done," said Schenectady Mayor Brian Stratton. "We're the birthplace of technology and innovation. It's a natural fit for the President to come to visit here."

It's expected that Obama will visit the site of GE's new battery plant, which is being constructed adjacent to the headquarters of the company's Renewable Energy division. The building opened in February 2010, and the factory is planned to be operational by the end of the year. When it was announced in May 2009, company CEO Jeff Immelt was joined by Gov. David Paterson and Rep. Paul Tonko. It will employ 350 people to make nickel-sodium batteries used to power electric cars and locomotives.

"I'd love to highlight that example of green jobs in what was formerly a brown belt community," said Susan Savage, chair of the Schenectady County Legislature.

The plant was built with help from the Empire State Development Corporation and New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, which Tonko -- a trained engineer -- used to lead.

"We look forward to welcoming him back to the area," said Tonko, D-Amsterdam. "It's a very telling statement. The President is intent on developing an innovation economy, and I think our region is exemplary in that regard."

Company spokesmen did not returns requests for comment Thursday. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has been invited to the event, his spokesman confirmed, but has not yet committed to attend.

Obama's last visit to the Capital Region carried political overtones. The September 2009 trip occurred just after the President sent word through a political emissary that he did not want Paterson to seek election. News of Obama's displeasure was reported in the days just before Obama visited Hudson Valley Community College in Troy, and accounts of the event focused on the awkward embrace Paterson and Obama shared on the tarmac of Albany International Airport, as well as Obama's body language during his speech at the college, where he seemed to favor Cuomo over Paterson.

Cuomo, then the attorney general, was presumed to be planning a primary challenge against Paterson. The Harlem Democrat ended his bid for election in February.

The 2009 trip stressed the importance of community colleges in building a green-collar workforce.

Obama's visit to Schenectady is the first by a sitting executive in recent memory. The city has come close: Bill Clinton spent the night in an Electric City hotel in 1992 while still a candidate, and Vice President George H.W. Bush visited in 1988 to speak at a breakfast as he campaigned for the presidency.

John F. Kennedy joined in a motorcade that passed through Schenectady when he was campaigning for the presidency in 1960. President Harry S. Truman spoke from the rear of a train at the downtown station in the late 1940s.

Stratton said Obama would arrive in the middle of the day, and that he hoped Obama would spend time in Schenectady -- perhaps visiting basketball courts in Central Park, Proctors Theatre and the Villa Italia restaurant.

"It goes hand-in-hand with what Gov. Cuomo is talking about, and I hope he'll be able to join us," Stratton said. "It's a perfect time. It's fitting with the governor's outstanding State of the State speech delivered yesterday -- although I don't expect the President to have a PowerPoint presentation."

Reach Vielkind at 454-5081 or jvielkind@timesunion.com.