Solar Power Industries, a Belle Vernon-based manufacturer of solar energy products, has received $7.5 million in state funding to build a new facility in the Sony Technology Center in Mount Pleasant.

The funds come in the form of a $937,500 matching grant and a $6.5 million loan from the Commonwealth Financing Authority under the state's Solar Energy Program, which is administered jointly by the Department of Community and Economic Development and the Department of Environmental Protection.

The Sony Technology Center is the former site for Sony's manufacturing of large-screen televisions.

In announcing the new funding, State Rep. Deberah Kula, D-North Union, said the company's Mount Pleasant expansion would create 375 jobs and retain 120 others.