What the Governor’s Talking about
Today
Wednesday, July 14,
2010
Governor to Join
President Obama for Battery Plant Groundbreaking Tomorrow in Holland
The governor will join President Barack Obama in
Holland tomorrow
for a 1:30 p.m. groundbreaking ceremony for the new Compact Power battery cell
manufacturing plant. Compact Power is a subsidiary of LG Chem
Ltd.
Compact Power is the last of nine new battery plants
nationwide to begin as a result of the $2.4 billion in Recovery Act advanced
battery and electric vehicles awards that President Obama announced last
August.
Key
messages:
- Michigan saw the opportunity
for an advanced battery industry well before any other state and developed an
innovative strategy to make Michigan the advanced battery capital of the
world.
- That strategy
included the first state battery tax credits in the nation, sending a clear
signal that Michigan is serious about being a leader in
this industry, and securing commitments from global leaders in advanced
batteries like LG Chem.
- We’re well on our
way in Michigan to becoming the advanced battery
capital of the world. We project almost 62,000 new jobs will be created
in Michigan
in the advanced battery industry in the next 10
years.
- Right now, six
lithium-ion battery cell manufacturing plants are planned or under
construction in Michigan: Compact Power/LG Chem, A123
Systems, Dow Kokam, fortu PowerCell, Johnson Controls-Saft and
Sakti3.
- It would have been
impossible to achieve this kind of success simply on our own. We needed
a partner in the federal government, and we have one in President Obama and
his administration.
- Last August Vice
President Joe Biden came to Michigan to
announce that 12 Michigan projects had been awarded more than
$1.35 billion in U.S. Department of Energy grants funded by the Recovery Act
to support advanced battery and electric vehicle manufacturing and
development. Since then, a total of 16 advanced energy storage companies
have projects underway in Michigan representing a total capital
investment of almost $6 billion.
- Collaborative
partnerships among the federal government, state and local governments and the
private sector must continue to keep growing the clean energy economy.
We have to keep investing. Additional congressional action to promote
the domestic manufacture of clean energy products is
crucial.
- Legislation has
been introduced in the U.S. Senate that expands the Advanced Energy
Manufacturing Tax Credit — more commonly known as 48c —and promotes electric
vehicle deployment through the construction of charging stations and
additional infrastructure.
- We also need to
continue for the next few years to offer federal tax credits to consumers who
purchase electric vehicles until the price for the manufacture of lithium-ion
batteries is comparable to that of internal combustion
engines.
- A clean energy
economy is key to reducing our dependence on imported oil and enhancing our
national security. And it makes sense to manufacture everything we need
for a clean energy economy right here in the United
States.
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