Green Energy

2. More green-energy stimulus aid sought
Feb 9, 2010 Columbus Dispatch
More green-energy stimulus aid sought
Tuesday, February 9, 2010 3:11 AM
By Mark Niquette
Federal stimulus dollars are helping Ohio companies make components for wind, solar and other energy production, but some "clean energy" advocates say that more assistance is needed to continue creating green manufacturing jobs.
U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown is pushing to more than double the $2.3 billion in stimulus funding approved nationwide for the Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credit program.
Brown hosted a roundtable in Columbus yesterday with executives of seven Ohio companies that have received $125 million from the program. One, DuPont Co., is adding 80 workers as part of a $175 million expansion in Circleville to make a film called Tedlar used in solar panels.
The Democratic senator noted that China, Germany and other counties are investing billions of dollars in alternative-energy production, and he said Ohio and the United States cannot afford to fall behind.
"If we don't act we're going to replace our dependence on foreign oil with a dependence on other countries manufacturing solar panels and wind-turbine components and so many other very, very important components of our energy future," Brown said at the Ohio Manufacturers' Association.
A recent expansion at First Solar in Perrysburg probably would have occurred in Germany instead if not for $16.3 million from the Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credit program, said Matthew A. Dills, the company's director of human resources.
The tax-credit program drew about 500 applications nationwide, but only about 165 awards were made, Brown's office said. Details about how many applications from Ohio were unsuccessful were not available.
Brown will work to have the funding increased to about $5 billion as part of a new jobs bill being discussed, a spokeswoman said.
DuPont is getting $50.7 million in credits for the expansion at its Circleville plant and expects to increase its Tedlar lines, although it's difficult to say whether that would happen in Circleville, plant manager Tony Eichstadt said.
"There will be a lot of very tough competition to get that investment," Eichstadt said.
Critics say the stimulus has been ineffective while adding to the federal deficit, but Brown said the stimulus has helped create or preserve jobs and that other factors, including two wars, are more responsible for the deficit.
Separately yesterday, Gov. Ted Strickland announced that 18 Ohio projects will receive more than $11.8 million in energy-efficiency grants also funded with stimulus dollars through Ohio's $96 million State Energy Program.
Companies in targeted industries such as advanced energy applied for funding from the state program to make energy-efficient improvements in their manufacturing facilities.
The largest grant was $1.2 million to Timken Co. in Canton to install a new boiler and replace outdated gas burners to save energy and reduce emissions.
John Grabner, the president of Cardinal Fastener & Specialty Co. in Bedford Heights, Ohio, is another recipient of the tax credits. He said his company's business was increasing quickly because of demand for the fasteners it makes for wind turbines. The company, soon to run out of capacity, has bought new equipment and plans to double employment to 100 this year, Grabner said.
"Demand is exceeding our original expectations, so we have to figure how we're going to cope with that," he said. Grabner said that Cardinal has displaced suppliers of wind parts from Europe and Asia to the U.S. market.