Solar-fan Attic Breeze blow flows in Gatesville

GATESVILLE – In its fifth year, homegrown Coryell County solar-fan manufacturer Attic Breeze has enlarged its plant and is growing its sales staff and workforce to expand production, according to owner Travis Hipp.

Attic Breeze makes 30 different models of solar-powered fans and tubular skylights, shipping 6,000-8,000 units a year through about 850 distributors around the world. Unrelated to the solar fans, the plant handles powder-coating jobs for customers.

The Attic Breeze workforce has grown to 23 and the company is still interviewing job applicants. After adding a 25,000-sf building in 2013, the company now has 42,000 sf at its plant, located at 1370 FM 116.

Coryell County helped by extending a property tax abatement granted for the original construction to include the expansion. Under the schedule, for the original construction of about $500,000, the property tax abatement gradually lowered over seven years from 90 percent to 10 percent.

The county agreed to Hipp’s request for an additional $310,000 of property value created by the expansion to be rolled into the abatement schedule.

The company reported annual sales of $2.5 million to $3 million when applying for the abatement. Hipp was working as a chemical engineer in Houston in 2005 when his dissatisfaction with a hot attic in his new house prompted him to design a solar fan in his garage workshop.