Hockey great Wayne Gretzky once said, “A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be.” The same can be said for economic development.

Two years ago, Michigan activated a pro active strategy to attract and grow the high-growth sectors of the 21st century, including the advanced battery sector. Now, thanks to our aggressive efforts, four companies and joint ventures are announcing plans to invest more than $1.7 billion to launch advanced-battery manufacturing facilities in Michigan and create over 6,600 new jobs.

They are: Johnson Controls-Saft Advanced Power Solutions LLC, LG Chem-Compact Power Inc., KD Advanced Battery Group LLC, and A123Systems Inc.

We are now out in front of our competition to capture this market and create thousands of new jobs in Michigan. I want to thank Governor Granholm, our state legislators, and our federal lawmakers for giving Michigan the tools we need to grow this industry, create jobs, and become the advanced battery capital of the world.

Tagged as: advanced battery, Alternative Energy, economic diversification, Economic Growth, green jobs initiative, green manufacturing, Green Technology, manufacturing diversification

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