Granholm says alternative energy is best hope for Michigan jobs

Gov. Jennifer Granholm used a good chunk of her State of the State address Tuesday night to discuss alternative energy, which she presented as a major opportunity for job growth in Michigan.

Reiterating a pitch for increasing the wind-power industry, which she has been making around the state over the past months, Granholm said that Michigan’s windy west coast, manufacturing resources and access to the Great Lakes for shipping position the state to excel in wind development.

She also praised Mascoma, Chemrec and NewPage as cutting-edge companies that are using wood waste to generate fuel for vehicles, and she congratulated companies that are converting household trash and animal waste into usable methane gas.

Continued - Michigan, though not generally sunny, is a huge player in the solar energy industry, she said, because it is home to Hemlock Semiconductor, the world’s largest producer of polycrystalline silicon, a key component of solar panels. She praised a plan by Dow Solar Solutions to locate a new, $52 million manufacturing facility in Midland.

“Saginaw Valley can be the Silicon Valley for the alternative energy business!” Granholm said.

The first step in out-hustling other states for high-paying alternative energy jobs, she said, is for Michigan to commit to using more renewable energy.

The governor said that Sweden — a country roughly the size of Michigan with similar-size population, forests and auto industry — set high goals for renewable energy use and created more than 2,000 businesses and 400,000 jobs in its renewable energy sector.

Granholm called on the legislature to approve “ambitious alternative-energy goals.”

“As soon as this legislature acts on a comprehensive energy package,” she announced, “Consumers Energy and DTE will begin to jointly invest up to $6 billion in Michigan — much of it to build wind turbines and wind farms to produce electricity and to help businesses and homeowners install energy-saving technologies.”

This would be one of the world’s largest investments in alternative energy and energy efficiency, creating upward of 17,000 jobs in Michigan, Granholm said.

Last week, the state House Committee on Energy and Technology approved bills on energy-efficiency and renewable energy requirements. The committee has not yet released a regulatory reform bill that would repeal part of the state’s Customer Choice law, which allows consumers to change electricity providers.

DTE and Consumers Energy say that this regulatory reform must pass before they move forward with the $6 billion in alternative energy investments.

Granholm also asked the legislature to pass tax incentives for anchor companies in the alternative energy sector that get their suppliers to also locate in Michigan, and to eliminate the gas tax for purchases of ethanol and biodiesel at gas stations.