Battery powered.

• Position: CHARLOTTE REGION

At 3.5 million square feet, the Philip Morris plant in Concord was the world's largest cigarette factory, employing as many as 2,500 people. When Richmond, Va.-based Altria Group closed the plant in 2009, it left a gaping hole in Cabarrus County's economy. Five years later, a Norwegian entrepreneur's Swiss company has acquired the 2,100-acre campus for $68 million, raising hopes that its electric-grid management technology can deliver an economic punch on par with making cigarettes. Alevo Group opened Victory Industrial Park in late October and plans to hire 500 workers by the end of next year and employ 2,500 within three years, part of an investment that eventually will exceed $1 billion. There it will build its GridBanks...