Mar. 22--Detroit is known for many things. The nation's 11th- largest city recently hosted Super Bowl XL. General Motors Corp. is still the world's largest automaker. And, of course, there is the Motown sound. And thanks to NextEnergy Corp., the Motor City is quickly becoming an international center for research in the development of alternative energy sources. NextEnergy is a nonprofit research-and-development incubator focused on high-tech and alternative solutions to energy problems. The nonprofit was formed as part of Michigan's strategy to push for the research and development of alternative energy sources and make the state a national hub for advanced technology study.

Perhaps most important is NextEnergy's potential to help create a significant number of skilled jobs. Some estimates are as high as 72,000 in the next decade. By developing renewable fuels in the transportation industry, as well as creating new supply-chain options, there will be plenty of room for Michigan's economy to grow, experts say. "I think one of the real important things about NextEnergy is that we want to make sure that we're at the leading edge of manufacturing for whatever the new fuels will be" for transportation, said David Cole, chairman of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor.

"When you look at the jobs in Michigan ... we want to be able to participate in terms of producing the hardware that makes the vehicles of the future run, especially at the level of the supply chain." The 45,000-square-foot facility near the campus of Wayne State University houses experimental laboratories, alternative fuel testing and demonstration bays, as well as office suites for companies. Companies can test hydrogen fuel cells, wind- generation devices and other power devices at the facility. NextEnergy is also constructing a hydrogen fuel filling station for experimental vehicles.

Among the companies leasing space and doing work at NextEnergy is Select Engineering Services of Ogden, Utah, which is studying the military applications for a mobile micro grid power system. There also is Biodiesel Industries from Santa Barbara, Calif., which set up shop to research how different agricultural crops could be used to develop biodiesel fuels. One homegrown company is West Bloomfield Township's nanoScience Engineering Corp., which produced a method of exfoliating, dispersing and coating tiny particles for use in the automotive, food and beverage, and pharmaceutical industries.

"We are supporting the tenants we've recruited to our incubators to help them create new jobs and spin out into larger corporations in two or three years," said Jim Croce, NextEnergy's CEO. "We're putting a greater focus on becoming a catalyst for greater statewide collaboration among various economic development agencies and incubators throughout the state." The brainchild of former Gov. John Engler, NextEnergy started out as a $50-million project that studied the development of hydrogen fuel cells. Founded in 2002, NextEnergy is dedicated to the commercialization of alternative energy technologies to help boost Michigan's economic competitiveness, energy security and environment.

Michigan is in a race to become one of the nation's pre-eminent locations for research and development of renewable energy sources to power American vehicles, homes and businesses. And NextEnergy is the primary vehicle to help the state win. The organization is attracting increasing attention and funding from around the state and nation. Two tenants of NextEnergy were the beneficiaries of $7 million in federal money as a result of U.S. Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, D-Detroit, pushing for the funding as a member of the House Appropriations Committee. The Great Lakes state still trails California, New York and Texas in overall spending.

In addition, Michigan has not adopted Renewable Portfolio Standards, which require states to generate a certain percentage of their electricity from renewable sources every year. There are 12 states that have mandatory Renewable Portfolio Standards on the books. Hawaii, Minnesota and Illinois have voluntary renewable-energy goals. Nevertheless, Michigan is uniquely situated to take advantage of the alternative fuels wave, because of the depth of expertise already established through the automotive engineering and design industries native to southeastern Michigan. "What the State of Michigan has done by creating and funding NextEnergy is build a global center for this kind of research," said Russell Teall, founder and president of Biodiesel Industries.

"There is nothing else like it around." Gov. Jennifer Granholm's recent announcement of a $2-billion bond plan that would help create as many as 72,000 skilled jobs in the area of alternative energy research in Michigan has NextEnergy's incubator program as its centerpiece. "It is very important for the states to take initiative," said Lawrence M. Murphy, manager of enterprise development programs for the Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo. "The work that the states are doing is extremely important to complement what the federal government is doing.

Plus, a lot of states are starting to look at these renewable energy technologies as ways to rebuild their job bases."