[caption id="" align="alignright" width="287"] Officials gathered last fall for the groundbreaking at Solar City. The project has since progressed rapidly. (Credit WBFO News file photo)[/caption]

With the topping off today of the Solar City plant in South Buffalo, attention is shifting from the jobs of construction to the jobs of operations.

Late next year or very early in 2017, there will be 1,500 people working on the former Republic Steel plant site at Riverbend. That's the message Christopher Schoepflin took to the Unitarian-Universalist church at Elmwood and Ferry last night for a meeting of the Sierra Club.

Regional director for Empire State Development, Schoepflin says there will be hundreds of workers by the end of the year.

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[audio mp3="http://sunypoly.edu/apps/blogs/news/files/2015/08/Hiring-set-to-begin-at-Solar-City-WBFO.mp3"][/audio]