LONGMONT , Colorado ( CNN ) -- A Colorado solar-energy company has high hopes for the economic stimulus bill that President Barack Obama will sign Tuesday in Denver . AVA Solar CEO Pascal Noronha holds one of the solar panels his company produces . Obama touts that the stimulus bill will help create up to a half a million so-called `` green '' jobs in the field of alternative energy . Colorado has a growing green energy industry . Executives of AVA Solar , based in Fort Collins , Colorado , are among green energy industry representatives invited to the bill signing . AVA Solar has its plant in Longmont , about 30 minutes north of Denver . The plant , set to begin production in the spring , will construct solar panels for solar power plants . Once production is up to speed , CEO Pascal Noronha says , the plant should create enough solar panels a year to power 40,000 U.S. homes . Noronha says AVA Solar needs two things : Government loans to expand its factory , and more government assistance to help power companies commit to building large solar power plants in the United States . iReport.com : What would you fix first ? Noronha says those two moves would help AVA Solar create 1,000 to 2,000 new jobs in its factory , plus added employment for its suppliers . The company , founded in 2007 , currently has 175 employees . Without the stimulus , Noronha said , AVA Solar is on track to create 420 new jobs by the end of this year . AVA Solar currently operates on $ 175 million in U.S.-based private venture capital . In 2007 the company also received $ 3 million in seed money from the U.S. Department of Energy . Noronha says Obama is on the right track in terms of the stimulus bill . `` What everybody needs is a little seed money because five years from now there 's no question [ that ] solar has to replace the oil that we import , '' Noronha says . `` What the government needs to do is provide the traction that is needed to get the first few projects on the ground . '' `` We need money from the federal government ... to facilitate production immediately , '' the CEO adds . `` Otherwise , we will be sitting and waiting for projects in the U.S. , and if we have to wait one year or two years -- when we 're able to produce a solution for this country today -- that is a really good reason for the government to say , 'Here it is , let 's go . ' `` Noronha says his company 's biggest customer base is in Germany , a country that is far ahead of the United States in embracing solar energy . Obtaining U.S. customers is a priority , he explains . `` As a company we would very much like to have customers here in the U.S. , '' Noronha says . `` The government needs to be able to facilitate these customers by making it possible for them to put large-scale power plants up . '' Noronha is optimistic about the stimulus bill and the direction of the Obama administration . `` If you look at the vision of the president , you know he is looking out in the future and saying we 've got to reduce our dependence on foreign oil , '' Noronha says . `` Well , to reduce our dependence on foreign oil , there is only renewable energy . And there are two forms that are promising -- one is wind and the other is solar . And solar , you 've got the sun 's resources all over the world . ''
Solar-panel company has high interest in stimulus bill . Creation of `` green '' energy jobs is among hallmarks of stimulus bill . AVA Solar of Colorado says it needs seed money to expand , hire more employees . Comment: