Governor Doyle Announces $525,000 to Renewegy to Create Green Jobs for Oshkosh

OSHKOSH – During a visit to Oshkosh today, Governor Jim Doyle announced that Renewegy, LLC will receive $525,000 in federal funding to help the company purchase new manufacturing equipment and create 40 new green jobs. The funding builds on the Governor’s efforts to make Wisconsin a national leader in green jobs and clean energy.

“ Wisconsin has a tremendous opportunity to be a leader in clean energy,” Governor Doyle said. “With these funds, we will help Renewegy not only create new green jobs in Oshkosh , but also manufacture renewable energy and energy efficient products.”

Governor Doyle has laid out an ambitious strategy to achieve energy independence by calling on the state to generate 25 percent of our electricity and 25 percent of our transportation fuels from renewable resources by 2025. Under the Governor’s plan, Wisconsin will also capture 10 percent of the market share for renewable energy by 2015 and utilize the state’s tremendous research capability to become the country’s leader in making alternative energy more affordable and available.

The funding is part of the State Energy Program (SEP) American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) fund. Renewegy will invest more than $3 million in equipment and working capital to achieve commercialization and plans to create 40 clean energy jobs. A recent start-up company, Renewegy is refocusing on the manufacture of light commercial wind turbine products

Governor Doyle also announced in Milwaukee today $3.1 million in SEP funding to three Milwaukee area companies to help them invest in manufacturing equipment and create 276 new green jobs. In September, the Governor announced a $500,000 loan to Cardinal Glass Industries to upgrade photovoltaic glass production capacity at its Portage facility.

The Wisconsin Department of Commerce (Commerce) administers the SEP program and will give priority to projects that:

Reduce fossil fuel use in Wisconsin manufacturing by deploying renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies;

Retool Wisconsin businesses to enable them to produce components of renewable energy systems and energy efficient products; and

Invest in renewable energy projects.

The funding is pending final approval from the U.S. Department of Energy. Applications and program information are available at http://commerce.wi.gov/BD/BD-SEP-ARRA.html.