By Sharon Hanks
After 42 years of teaching in the classroom, James Wolter is now setting up his own shop at the Muskegon facility he helped establish: the
Michigan Alternative and Renewable Energy Center of Grand Valley State University.
A retired professor from GVSU, Wolter and his partners have signed an agreement with the university to lease 1,000 square feet of lab and office space in the MAREC business incubator facility at 200 Viridian Dr. in the downtown
Muskegon SmartZone.
"Initially we're going to work on using energy storage to enhance the capabilities of power systems," Wolter says of his Energy Partners, LLC, which will first focus on uninterrupted power systems to keep power going in such critical work environments as operating rooms.
Working closely with
Coffman Electrical Equipment in Grand Rapids, Wolter says they'll work on commercializing their discoveries with new product offerings Coffman can bring to market. The company will open with one employee, George Jaeger, a Hope college-trained biologist.
"I think renewable energy is an engine of rebirth for not just Michigan, but the U.S. economy," says Wolter, a physicist who retired in December as a professor of business and new market development. "It's an area that represents economic potential, which means jobs creation, and an improvement in our ecological environment. This is all clean energy."
Energy Partners is the third incubator tenant at MAREC, joining
Logical Lighting Co. who moved in last October, and
Smart Vision Light who has been with MAREC for two years. With the addition of Energy Partners, MAREC's incubator lab space is now two-thirds full.
MAREC is one of 11 SmartZones created by the Michigan Economic Development Corp. in 2001 to promote and attract high-technology business development in the state.
Source: James Wolter of Energy Partners, LCC of Muskegon
Related articles:
Fledging Logical Lighting Systems moves to Muskegon's alternative energy center. Software firm prepares to showcase energy efficiency systems at MAREC
MAREC invents breakthrough residential wind turbine technology Sharon Hanks is the innovations and job news editor at Rapid Growth Media. She can be reached at [email protected].
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