From: Whipple, Deb (GOV)
Sent: Tuesday, March 30, 2010
4:34 PM
Subject: What the Governor is talking about today
What the Governor’s Talking about
Today
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Governor Celebrates Groundbreaking for
Ventower Wind Tower Manufacturing Plant in Monroe
The governor today joined company leaders and
federal, state and local officials to celebrate the groundbreaking for Ventower
Industries’ new 115,000-square-foot wind tower manufacturing plant in
Monroe. The company is investing $22 million in the project, which is
expected to create up to 150 new jobs.
Ventower Industries is a full-service fabricator
and supplier of industrial-scale wind turbine towers. Focused on serving
original equipment manufacturers, the company will provide high-quality wind
towers to its customers throughout the Great Lakes region by using readily
accessible water, rail and truck modes of transportation.
Ventower
expects construction to be complete and manufacturing to begin in early
2011. The company anticipates building up to 250 towers a year at the
site.
Federal, state and local incentives helped Michigan win the
project over a competing site in Ohio. Ventower is using a federal
advanced energy manufacturing tax credit worth $2.5 million funded through the
Recovery Act to help purchase equipment needed for tower manufacturing.
The Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) supported a state
employment credit worth up to $3.7 million over 10 years and a brownfield
redevelopment credit worth up to $5.8 million. The city of Monroe is
assisting with a local abatement and infrastructure upgrades to the Port of
Monroe.
Key messages:
• Clean energy is one of the economic sectors
we’ve targeted in our ongoing efforts to diversify Michigan’s economy.
Ventower’s state-of-the-art facility will help us toward our goal of making
Michigan a center for green manufacturing.
• A strong
partnership between the state and the city of Monroe, together with federal
assistance, helped make the strong business case that convinced Ventower to
locate in Michigan.
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