LANSING – The Strategic Fund Board approved $27 million from the 21st Century Jobs Fund for the creation of the first Centers of Energy Excellence.
The funds, all $18.1 million from the current fiscal year and $8.9 million from next fiscal year, went to support three projects around the state.
“We just knew this was going to be a growing space in the economy,” Michigan Economic Development Corporation CEO James Epolito said. “We’re really excited about the Legislature stepping up in a bipartisan fashion so we could have these tools.
“Centers of Energy Excellence will enable innovative companies doing cutting-edge 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,” said Governor Jennifer Granholm said. “This new 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.”
The largest grant went to Mascoma Corporation of Cambridge, Massachusetts. The company is developing a cellulosic ethanol plant in the Upper Peninsula, in partnership with Michigan State University and Michigan Technological University, that will provide 40 million gallons a year of the fuel.
Mascoma CEO Bruce Jameson said the facility would be the largest of its type in the nation, but he said the company’s test plant in New York is showing that the process will work.
“It’s low cost compared to the cost of gasoline; it has a very low carbon footprint compared to gasoline,” Jameson said.
Swedish Biogas International will tie into the Flint wastewater treatment plant to turn some of that waste into energy in part with a $4 million grant from the fund. The proposal echoes three plants already in operation in the company’s home country. And Mr. Epolito noted the official announcement of the plant will also bring the kind of Sweden to Flint next week. The project is tied to Kettering University.
Sakti3 of Ann Arbor received $3 million from the fund for its work on next generation lithium ion batteries. The company plans manufacturing of the batteries in Michigan. The project is receiving research assistance from the University of Michigan.
CONFIDENTIALITY: The board in the coming months will also be taking a deeper look at its process for providing confidentiality to companies applying for assistance. All three of the recipients of Energy Excellence funds had asked that part of their applications be kept secret, a request the board unanimously supported.
But board member Linda Ewing objected to providing confidentiality to another company that had asked the board not to disclose its wage rates. She argued that wages companies pay, because they play a role in assistance those companies receive, in most cases should be made public.
“In my mind it should be limited to information that is truly proprietary and competitive,” Ewing said. “We tend to treat it almost as a courtesy and not give it a ton of thought that it deserves.”
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