Apr 16 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Mark Niquette The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio


Sen. Sherrod Brown talks about Ohio becoming a "Silicon Valley" for alternative-energy manufacturing, and money from the federal government -- if spent properly -- can help the state get there.

That was the message yesterday at a "clean energy summit" that the Ohio Democrat convened with Battelle Memorial Institute in Columbus to help companies and others take advantage of the federal stimulus package and other resources.

Brown also announced $950,000 in funding that he and Republican Sen. George V. Voinovich secured in a separate spending bill to create the Ohio Advanced Energy Manufacturing Center in Columbus.

"There's a lot of opportunity that we need to keep pushing," Brown said. "There's just a lot of entrepreneurial activity we're trying to stimulate."

The idea is to help existing manufacturing companies adapt to provide products needed for solar, wind or other alternative-energy production and use, as well as to create jobs with new energy-related technology and manufacturing.

"Somebody's going to do it, and it should be us," said Jeff Wadsworth, chief executive at Battelle. "Somebody's going to win this race, and we should be bold enough to think we can do it."

Wadsworth and Brown said Ohio already has strong energy research and pockets of energy-related production, including parts for solar power in Toledo, wind power in Cleveland and insulation in Newark.

But it's important to forge partnerships and use the federal dollars to lay the groundwork that will lead to sustained energy development and jobs, officials said.

The $950,000 for the new center at Edison Welding Institute will be used to help Ohio businesses already involved in energy manufacturing and those that would like to be, institute President and Chief Executive Henry J. Cialone said.

Owen F. Barwell, deputy chief financial officer for the U.S. Department of Energy, attended yesterday's summit and said the federal stimulus package includes $38.7 billion for energy-related spending.

Ohio is expected to get about $1 billion of that amount, including $267 million for home weatherization and $96 million for projects through the State Energy Program, he said.

"This is a huge investment in the nation's energy future," Barwell said.

Competition already is intense for the available funding, with more than 2,200 requests totaling $6.6 billion for the $96 million in the State Energy Program alone, said Kimberly Gibson of the Ohio Air Quality Development Authority.

Battelle's Wadsworth said although the idea is to spend the stimulus money quickly and boost the economy, it creates a danger of not funding things that will last and create jobs in the industry.

"Is the money needed? Yes," he said. "The challenge is how do you spend it wisely so you have sustainable, enduring outcomes."

Also yesterday, the Ohio Department of Development said it is accepting proposals for $500,000 available through the state's Advanced Energy Fund for projects with technologies that use farm waste to produce energy.

For more information on federal stimulus funding for energy, go to www.energy.gov/recovery and www.recovery. ohio.gov.

mniquette@dispatch.com

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