CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Siemens Energy Inc. plans to create about 560 new jobs in North Carolina by 2028 while choosing Charlotte for its first U.S. plant to manufacture large power transformers designed to help modernize the electric grid, officials announced Tuesday.

The German company already has more than 1,250 workers in Charlotte and hundreds more in locations such as Raleigh, Selma and Forsyth County, according to Gov. Roy Cooper's office and a document provided by the state Commerce Department.

The expansion connected to the $150 million investment includes increasing the company's existing grid technology engineering operations in Wake County, where the Commerce Department said more than 80 of the new jobs would be created.

The minimum average wage for the other new Charlotte-area jobs will be $87,036, or just above current average wage in Mecklenburg County, which includes Charlotte, the Cooper news release said.

“Manufacturing large power transformers in the United States will strengthen and expand our electrical grid to incorporate more renewable energy and meet growing energy demand,” Siemens Energy executive board member Tim Holt was quoted as saying in a Cooper news release.

Siemens Energy was choosing between Charlotte and a site in Hutchinson, Kansas to make the investment, according to information provided to a state committee that approves incentive packages. That Economic Investment Committee agreed earlier Tuesday to award Siemens Energy up to nearly $7 million in cash payments over 12 years if it met job-creation and investment targets.

Charlotte and Mecklenburg County officials also provided combined incentives valued at over $5.4 million, while other state incentives are valued at $2.9 million.

Siemens was also offered incentives in Kansas to build at the Hutchinson site, according to a North Carolina government document.