Sharon Hanks
Three small West Michigan manufacturers were among nine selected statewide to receive federal grants and loans totaling $20 million as "seed" money to nurture the development and manufacture of clean energy products, a growth industry Michigan is trying to foster to diversify its auto-intense economy. The share to West Michigan companies totaled nearly $4.2 million in grants and loans.
Heat Transfer International (HTI) of Kentwood, Innotec Inc. of Zeeland, and Polar Seal Window Corp. of Grand Rapids, were selected from among 40 applicants statewide to share in federal monies available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Their awards total $3.3 million in grants and $750,000 in loan guarantees made possible through the Clean Energy Advanced Manufacturing (CEAM) program.
"This will allow us to do some really creative stuff in Michigan that isn't happening anywhere else in the world," says HTI president Dave Prouty of the $2.2 million grant and $550,000 in loan guarantees awarded to his Kentwood company at 4720 44th St. SE.
"In Michigan, we're the only company that's designing and manufacturing biomass power systems and one of only two or three in the United States," Prouty says. The biomass gasification systems transform waste materials, such as farm manure, sewer sludge, paper or wood remnants (forest slash) into a gas that powers a turbine to create electricity.
The grant will allow HTI, which has 20 employees, to purchase machinery to build its own alternative energy systems instead of relying on other companies -- many outside the state -- for help in making the final product. It will also give HTM greater control over the manufacture and quality of its biomass systems and allow its engineers to bring the final product to market faster.
Prouty expects HTI's influx of federal stimulus funds to allow it to hire from between 60 to 100 employees over the next five years, many of them highly paid engineers, CAD designers and skilled trade workers.
According to the announcement from the office of Gov. Jennifer Granholm, Innotec will use its $1 million federal stimulus money and $200,000 loan guarantee to manufacture PCB-free LED integrated lighting panels.
Polar Seal Window will use its $100,000 federal grant and $100,000 loan guarantee to manufacture a new energy efficient commercial window framing.
Source: Announcement issued by the office of Gov. Jennifer Granholm and Dave Prouty, president of Heat Transfer International, Kentwood
Sharon Hanks is innovations and jobs news editor at Rapid Growth Media. Please send story ideas and comments for the column to Sharon at [email protected]. She also is owner of The Write Words in Grand Rapids.
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