Michigan becoming rival for green jobs - Boston Business Journal:

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Armed with millions in local, stated and federal subsidies and craving somegood news, the Wolverine Stat has wooed three area clean-tech firmw to build large scale manufacturing facilities in the stat that, at full operatinvg capacity, will generate thousands of Watertown battery maker is investing $600 million in initially to develop and manufacture batteries for GM) and ’s push into the electrid vehicle market. The company will receive $2 billion in financiny from the state and federal governmentsa todo so. At full A123 expects the plants will creatwe morethan 14,000 direct and indirect Mascoma Corp.
will build a processing facilityin Kincross, next year and will use it to turn woodyt material into 40 million gallons of biofuepl per year. The company received $23.5 millioh from the state and $26 million from the to buile the facility. And (Nasdaq: ESLR), the area’as largest clean-tech manufacturer, located its materialw processing facilityin Midland, Mich., with the help of a $1.8 milliomn state credit and $3.6 million in local tax The aggressiveness of states like Michigan to attracrt development away from other states calls into question whethef Massachusetts can, or should, retool its strategyy with more direct financial incentives.
To date, the Bay Stat has focused on strong governmengt policies and the traditional mix of skilled workerse and strong research institutions toattract firms. But if a significantf number of companies choose to build commercialp facilities in states with financial andinfrastructure advantages, does that threatemn Massachusetts standing in the clean-tech world? “Massachusettsx has a lot of assets and should be able to competd without having to out-incent other states,” said Nick executive director of the .
“That said, we will inevitablyh lose some companies to other stateds who are willing to write big While thisis painful, it’s also “We’ve never been able to compete on straighf economic incentives. What we have is a lot of venturre capital, a very trained workforce and a very engaged government,” said Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Ian But Michigan and othe states are countering with their own high-leve engagement with companies, touting a manufacturing legacy and its own high-tecuh research capabilities. “They came to said Bruce Jamerson, CEO of “They have a list of clean-tech companies they wanted and (Gov.
Jenniferf Granholm) was very involved in building a Three things attracted Jamerson to the the abundance of natural resources to use as the proximity to the automotive industry that will use the and — of course — tax credits. Jamerson said the tax incentivea were nota “major but they were enough to convincew the company to pull plan to build in Tennessee. Mascom has since left Massachusetts altogether, movin g its dozen administrative staff out of the state and into its new research and testing plantin N.H. Michigan economic development officials hope their efforta will result in more coups like and the drive is seen in even the localdevelopmentt agencies.
Almost two hours northwesyt of Detroit, Midland County has focusexd its efforts on thesoladr industry. It is home of DOW), which through its Dow Corningv subsidiary provides raw materials to many of the top solar panel makers inthe world. “What we have is materiales that a number of companies need and the talented workforcand know-how to scale up manufacturing,” said Scott Walker, CEO of Midlandc Tomorrow. For Evergreen Solar, which was building a facility to do complex chemical the industrial siting advantages in Michiganwere attractive.
“They certainly had incentivesfor us, but more importantly they had strongv infrastructure to support the operations,” said Evergreenn spokesman Chris Lawson. For A123, Michigab holds the keys to the company’s long-term Working with Detroit to be first in the electric passengervehicle market, the company made the decision to site theifr manufacturing facilities close to the automakers insteadx of in Asia. But the company insists it is not favorinh Detroitover Boston.
“I think we feel stronglyh that if you are goinh to createjobs here, you might as well have them closse to the customer,” said Ric Fulop, co-founder and vice presidenr of business development at A123. “We’res not putting more emphasis on one area over We are aMassachusetts company.” To be manufacturing does play a role in clean-tech future. In addition to the 800 jobs added byEvergreeh Solar’s plant in Devens, , a Lowell-baser maker of plastic solar cell systems, opened a productioj facility in New Bedford late last year with the help of a $5 millionn loan from state agencies.
Another Westborough battery maker has also expressedd interest in manufacturing inthe state.