Opinions Forging Ahead We’re becoming the center of wind-turbine manufacturing
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Forging Ahead
By Greg Main
President & CEO,
Michigan Economic Development Corp.
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Last month, the Michigan Economic Development Corp. (MEDC) announced a new project in Western Michigan under the Centers of Energy Excellence (COEE) program, which brings companies, academic institutions, national labs and the state together to support cutting-edge research and development, and pioneer new alternative energy technology.
The Michigan Strategic Fund (MSF) approved $3.5 million for the COEE for Energetx Composites, the Holland-based spin-off of S2 Yachts, which will collaborate with Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Dow Chemical Co. to manufacture wind turbine blades with advanced materials. Dow and ORNL will deliver innovative materials and technical expertise to Energetx, and the University of Michigan and Kettering University will contribute workforce training. The project will receive $3.5 million in matching funds from the U.S. Department of Energy.
The COEE program will enable innovative companies doing state-of-the-art work in advanced and alternative energy to partner with our world-class research facilities and universities to help make Michigan the North American epicenter of the alternative energy industry. This program is part of our aggressive strategy to diversify our economy, create new jobs, and be the state that helps end our nation’s dependence on foreign oil.
Legislation that created the COEE program was enacted with overwhelming bipartisan support in 2008, authorizing the MSF to allocate up to $45 million to establish and administer the COEE program, which supports the development, growth and sustainability of alternative energy clusters by identifying and/or locating a base company with the necessary business and supply-chain infrastructure. The COEE program matches the base companies with universities, national labs and training centers to accelerate next-generation research, workforce development and commercialization.
Clearly, word has gotten out that this region is a great place for wind-energy companies to do business.
Michigan is primed for wind-energy growth as it is one of four states considered to have sufficient industrial capacity to manufacture, innovate and deploy wind-turbine technology. Our state has more than 900 suppliers in applicable NAICS categories and the industrial base to support as many as 24,000 wind-energy jobs. Thanks to the Great Lakes, Michigan has an inexhaustible supply of wind resources. We’re ranked No. 14 in the nation in onshore wind generation potential, and the power generation of offshore wind-power generation offshore and near-shore could be up to 20 times greater.
Michigan also has a unique resource in NextEnergy, an alternative energy think tank that can custom-develop a supply chain. NextEnergy has already developed the first wind energy supply chain being used in the U.S. — a supply chain that is being used as a model by the American Wind Energy Association.
While Western Michigan stakes its claim in the wind-energy sector, it’s also the home of one of the biggest advanced battery projects in North America. The Milwaukee-based Johnson Controls-Saft (JCS), one of the leading independent suppliers of lithium-ion batteries for hybrid and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, plans to invest $220 million in a new advanced-battery manufacturing facility in Holland to produce lithium-ion cells for automotive applications. JCS was also awarded a U.S. Department of Energy grant valued at almost $300 million for its production of advanced batteries. The company has already entered into a partnership with Ford Motor Co. and plans to supply batteries for the company’s line of hybrid and electric vehicles.
Korean-based LG Chem, in partnership with its U.S. subsidiary Compact Power (LGC-CPI) and General Motors, also announced that it had chosen Holland as the site of its $330 million lithium-ion battery plant. This marked the first time an Asian company — the traditional home of advanced battery manufacturing — had selected a North American site. Compact Power, on behalf of LG Chem, was awarded $151.4 million in U.S. DOE funds for production of lithium-ion polymer battery cells for the GM Volt.
Michigan is bullish on clean energy, especially wind, and we are overcoming some intense competition with other states and countries to win these high-profile alternative-energy projects. We are acting boldly and decisively to be the state that develops the technologies, manufactures the products and creates the green jobs that will make us the clean energy manufacturing capital of North America.