Gov. Jennifer Granholm outlined her renewable energy plan during Thursday morning's opening session of the Detroit Regional Chamber Mackinac Policy Conference at Mackinac Island's Grand Hotel.
After a grand old Mackinac conference tradition -- a standing ovation for the governor, no matter which party or polling level -- Granholm acknowledged that "it's been a tough year -- frankly it's been a tough decade for Michigan." She said the state will have lost nearly a million jobs between 2000 and 2010, including three out of four of its auto industry jobs.
That means "we cannot do things the way we have. We cannot expect the things we have done in the past will work. We cannot depend on the industries we used to depend on."
She said she wants to diversify the economy, double Michigan's number of college graduates and protect people to the extent possible during the current economic chnges.
A video outlined the state's efforts to boost wind and solar power and battery technlogy. Then Granholm noted that there is virtually no production of advanced batteries in the United States.
She said Michigan has bet big on battery technlogy, particularly in the electric and hybrid car industry, because "we have 330 research and development centers devoted to next generation vehicles, we have more engineers and talent related to the vehicle than all the other states and Canada and Mexico combined."
As for wind, she said manufacturers in Michigan are "hungry," and have access to the big water needed to transport big wind turbines easily.
She said the state is also offering "anchor company" incentives, so that if renewable energy companies recruit suppliers here they get extra incentives.
And in vintage Granholm, she remained optimistic, even on a day when auto suppliers were declaring Chapter 11 bankruptcy and the weather outside the conference was persistently miserable.
"We will take advantage of these great natural assets, our great universities, our work force which is second to none," Granholm said. "We are going to have a tough summer, but on the back side of this we are going to be all right. In fact, we are going to be magnificent."
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