MiEIBC hails DOE announcement of Clean Energy Manufacturing Initiative

LANSING -- The Michigan Energy Innovation Business Council hailed the announcement of the United States Department of Energy's new Clean Energy Manufacturing Initiative, and called for the manufacturing innovation institute included in the initiative to be based in Michigan.

"The announcement by the Department of Energy that it is launching a Clean Energy Manufacturing Initiative is good news for Michigan's advanced energy sector," said MiEIBC president Dan Scripps. "Manufacturing associated with renewable energy, energy storage and energy efficiency already pumps $7.2 billion into the Michigan economy each year. DOE's announcement can only mean that that number will continue to grow."

Michigan-based companies played a key role in DOE's announcement, with leaders from Ford Motor Co. and Dow Chemical Co. joining officials from the Energy Department and Oak Ridge National Laboratory to launch the Carbon Fiber Technology Facility at Oak Ridge. A number of other Michigan companies are also leading in the development carbon fiber applications in the energy space.

MAG, the largest designer and manufacturer of advanced tooling machines for carbon fiber applications, has teamed up with Dow Chemical and AKSA, one of the world's largest fiber manufacturers, to "marry" together the newly developed composite materials with the latest high speed manufacturing systems.  These collaborations hold promise to accelerate the use of advanced ultra-light materials in transportation vehicles, wind turbine components and other applications.

Included in the announcement are the following specific elements:
* Increased funding for research and development that will accelerate U.S.-based manufacturing of advanced energy technologies, including wind, solar, geothermal, batteries and biofuels.
* $23 million in innovative manufacturing research and development projects.
* $15 million in funding to reduce the manufacturing costs of solar energy technology, including photovoltaics and concentrated solar power, and demonstrate cost-competitive innovative manufacturing technologies that can achieve commercial production in the next few years.
* The announcement of s a new manufacturing innovation institute, with a funding opportunity to follow in the next few months.

"As the home to global manufacturing leaders in the wind, solar, storage and efficiency sectors, Michigan is the clear choice for the new manufacturing innovation institute included in yesterday's announcement," said Scripps. "Our advanced energy manufacturing sector is unrivaled anywhere in the world, and we look forward to working with leaders in Lansing and Washington to develop a proposal to make sure that DOE's manufacturing innovation institute is based right here in Michigan."

More information about the Clean Energy Manufacturing Initiative is available at http://www1.eere.energy.gov/energymanufacturing/

The Michigan Energy Innovation Business Council is a trade association that represents companies in advanced materials, batteries and energy storage, biomass, energy efficiency, lighting, smart grid, solar, transportation and wind, and includes companies engaged in energy innovation, production, manufacturing, entrepreneurship and research and development.

More at www.mieibc.org.