LANSING – Andrew Levin, currently deputy director for workforce transformation, will head the department of Energy, Labor and Economic Development beginning next week, Gov. Jennifer Granholm announced Monday.
Skip Pruss, who took the helm of the agency when it was restructured about two years ago, will retire effective July 23 to join a new energy consulting company.
Pruss told Gongwer News Service that the consulting company, which will concentrate on clean and renewable systems, the same as Pruss did with DELEG, has been in the works for some time but became a reality only recently.
But he said he has succeeded in fulfilling many of the missions of the agency since energy was added to its portfolio.
“The whole effort has been to compete and to compete in a way that exceeds the performance of our competitors,” he said. That focus has made the state a center for battery development in North America and could soon give it that stature in wind turbine production.
He said a company is beginning this year to take the machining of turbine hubs from plants in China, with the expectation that next year those hubs will also be stamped in the state. “We will be producing hubs at a quality greater than anywhere in the world and at a price cheaper than China,” he said.
He also praised the coming energy efficient building code and changes in utility regulation that decoupled earnings from power sales.
But he said Levin will have work to do. “He’s a visionary guy,” Pruss said.
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