$850000 state wind-power grant goes to WIRE-Net, a manufacturing …
Source: The Plain Dealer - cleveland.com (Original Article)
A manufacturing-advocacy group has bagged an $850,000
grant to expand the supply chain for wind power in Ohio.
The Ohio Department of Development awarded the grant this
week to the Westside Industrial Retention and Expansion
Network, known as WIRE-Net.
WIRE-Net’s Great Lakes Wind Network is already
surveying needs of the world’s largest wind-turbine
manufacturers to see what parts can be supplied by Ohio
companies.
“We’re seeing a perfect match between industries
here and the scarcest items in the wind-energy supply
chain,” said Ed Weston, director of the wind network, a
fledgling trade group of component manufacturers for wind
turbines.
Ohio already has 40 to 50 companies active in the supply
chain, he said. He hopes to lift participation to 75
companies by the end of the one-year grant.
WIRE-Net’s wind network is arranging interviews with
200 companies across Ohio that could be wind-industry
suppliers.
Work under the grant includes building a Web site and
information-management system for suppliers, marketing the
supply chain and sending leads on new business to state
development officials.
Early estimates put the market for wind-turbine components
at $10 billion by 2024, under Ohio’s recently passed
energy bill, Weston said.
Ohio companies would like to grab as much of that market
as possible, Weston said.
“It’s tailor-made for the rust belt” and
its abundance of eager manufacturers, Weston said.
“It’s an opportunity to revitalize
ourselves.”
WIRE-Net was the only applicant for the grant. Lt. Gov.
Lee Fisher, also head of the state development department,
said in a news release that the wind supply chain
“creates new jobs and investment from current Ohio
component manufacturers, and attracts new companies.”
Partners in the grant include MAGNET, another local
manufacturing-support group; the Edison Welding Institute in credit card au
Columbus; the Edison Materials Technology Center …continue reading