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Dear Secretary Chu:
We are writing to express support for the NextEnergy proposal to the U.S. Department of Energy to create the new Large Wind Turbine Drivetrain Testing Facility. NextEnergy is leading a team of state and industry partners to develop a world]class facility – the NextWind Center – which will leverage Michigan’s engineering and manufacturing expertise to support research, development, and testing needs for the growing large-scale wind industry in the United States. The ultimate objective of the NextWind Center is to improve U.S. competitiveness in wind energy technology, thus accelerating technology commercialization, creating green jobs, reducing power costs for consumers, and helping to achieve the nation’s renewable energy goals.
We want to underscore the significant advantages that Michigan can provide for this important DOE initiative. The NextEnergy team includes a consortium of international leaders with critical expertise in wind turbine drivetrain design, virtual prototyping, product development and manufacturing, component and system testing and validation, and wind turbine certification. To support this proposal, the NextEnergy project team has identified and committed over $56 million in non-federal funding, including commitments of more than $10 million from the Michigan Economic Growth Corporation, $6.5 million in a bond allocation from the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth, and $1.5 million in land and services from the City of Detroit.
This project will contribute significantly to economic redevelopment of Southeast Michigan. In addition to the construction and engineering jobs required to build the center, estimates of job creation include 110 new jobs directly associated with the NextWind Center, approximately 206 indirect jobs, and potentially thousands of jobs throughout the wind manufacturing supply chain. The project will also stimulate demand for American]made supplies. The NextEnergy project team intends to use American made materials to the fullest extent possible during construction of the facility and will make every effort to use American]made equipment within the facility. While many key pieces of equipment required for the test cells, such as gearboxes, power electronics, and permanent magnet generators, are not currently manufactured in the United States, the NextEnergy project team is committed to work with suppliers of larger pieces of such equipment in an effort to have them at least assembled in the U.S.
We urge the Department of Energy to review carefully the NextEnergy proposal and the tremendous advantages this Michigan-led team can provide to create a new Large Wind Turbine Drivetrain Testing Facility as proposed by the Department of Energy.
Sincerely,
Debbie Stabenow
Carl Levin
John Dingell
Sander Levin
John Conyers
Dale Kildee
Fred Upton
Dave Camp
Pete Hoekstra
Bart Stupak
Vern Ehlers
Carolyn Kilpatrick
Mike Rogers
Thaddeus McCotter
Candice Miller
Gary Peters
Mark Schauer
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