Columbus, Ohio--Governor Ted Strickland, together with Ohio Board of Regents Chancellor Eric D. Fingerhut, today announced Ohio's Centers of Excellence in advanced energy at a press conference at the Ohio Board of Regents.

 

The nine Centers, located at eight universities throughout the state, are committed to focusing their academic and research activities on advanced energy development to strengthen Ohio as a global leader in the advanced energy economy and to meet the requirements of Senate Bill 221, signed by the governor last year.

 

Senate Bill 221 gives Ohio the third most aggressive advanced energy portfolio standard in the nation and mandates that 25 percent of all electricity sold in Ohio come from advanced energy sources by 2025.

 

"Meeting our advanced energy standard depends on making sure we continue to develop new technologies," Strickland said. "These Centers of Excellence will play a key role in meeting that goal as well as strengthening Ohio's position as a market leader in supplying the world's advanced energy economies.  That is important for a simple reason--when we grow these industries, we create jobs."

 

The Centers are located at the following universities:

• Bowling Green State University: Sustainability and the Environment
• Case Western Reserve University: Great Lakes Energy Institute
• Central State University: Emerging Technologies
• University of Cincinnati: Sustaining the Urban Environment
• University of Dayton: Von Ohain Fuels & Combustion; and Strategic Energy  and Environmental Informatics
• The Ohio State University: Climate, Energy, and the Environment
• Ohio University: Energy and the Environment
• University of Toledo: Advanced Renewable Energy and the Environment

 

The announcement is one of several the governor is making this week as he travels the state to demonstrate Ohio's commitment to a growing advanced energy economy. 

 

Governor Strickland, who serves as co-chair for the Appalachian Regional Commission, hosted the 13 Appalachian states for the three-day national conference in Athens this week titled New Energy.  New Jobs.  New Opportunities for Appalachia.  The governor is also touring several advanced and renewable energy businesses and incubators.

 

The Centers of Excellence, as outlined in Ohio's 10-year Strategic Plan for Higher Education, will position the University System of Ohio to be a magnet for talent and a leader in innovation and entrepreneurial activity by developing distinct missions for each institution that are recognized by students, faculty and business leaders, while eliminating unnecessary competition for resources, students and faculty within the state.

 

"Ohio's universities are committed to driving economic growth in this state," Fingerhut said. "The Centers of Excellence in advanced energy announced today will create the technologies and innovations needed to make Ohio a global leader in an economy that requires a modern, cheap, and clean energy infrastructure."

 

Ohio is already ranked in the top five for clean energy job creation, energy efficiency and environmentally friendly production jobs, according to the Pew Charitable Trusts, and is first in the nation for renewable and advanced energy manufacturing.

 

Today's announcement is the first of five groupings of university Centers of Excellence that align with the state's targeted industries, as well as focus on talent recruitment. The first four categories are specific to Ohio's growth industries--advanced energy, transportation and logistics, biomedical and healthcare, and agriculture and food production.  The fifth group is focused on attracting and retaining talent to the state through additional programs that are essential in building communities and attracting creative talent.

 

For more information, see:

 

Ohio Centers of Excellence: www.uso.edu/centersofexcellence

 

Governor Strickland's Senate Bill 221: http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/bills.cfm?ID=127_SB_221 

 

10-year Strategic Plan for Higher Education: http://uso.edu/strategicplan/

 

 

 

Ohio is supplying the world's essential needs--producing cleaner and greener energy solutions for us all. Ohio-based manufacturers have maximized the state's manufacturing heritage to successfully shift from past inventions to tomorrow's innovations.  Here are a few of the recent advanced energy innovations:

 

Solar Energy

First Solar in Perrysburg, Wood County (Northwest Ohio)

Perrysburg has the largest manufacturing plant of thin-film solar panels in the country.  First Solar is capitalizing on Northwest Ohio's history of expert glass manufacturing and knowledgeable workforce and is expanding its Ohio manufacturing operations to build a new facility to support increased development activities associated with its advanced thin-film solar module manufacturing technology. The company manufactures solar modules with an advanced thin film semiconductor technology and provides comprehensive PV solutions that significantly reduce solar electricity costs.

 

Biomass Energy

R.E. Burger plant in Shadyside, Belmont County (Eastern Ohio)

Building one of the largest biomass facilities in the country, Ohio and FirstEnergy are partnering to repower units at the Burger plant to generate electricity primarily with biomass. This project, announced in early April, anticipates the plant will be capable of producing up to 312 megawatts of electricity--enough to power about 190,000 homes, which makes it one of the largest biomass facilities in the country.

 

Wind Energy

Minster Machine in Minster, Auglaize County (Southwest Ohio)

Minster Machine is diversifying its equipment manufacturing from the auto, medical and food industries to include energy-related parts manufacturing.   The company began as a blacksmith in 1896 and recently the Minster Machine Company has been forging the giant cast-iron hubs that keep the blades attached to the center of a wind turbine. With the same skills and a bend toward innovation, the company diversified and grew, while staying true to its initial promise to make high-value parts.

 

 

Many of Ohio's best known manufacturers-such as American Trim, Avon Bearings, Dovetail Solar and Wind, Lubrizol, Owens-Corning, Parker Hannifin, Sherwin Williams and Timken are now key suppliers to the nation's advanced energy industry. Their traditional manufacturing processes transition easily to supply bearings, performance coatings, advanced plastics, composites and other energy-related components that will help create the future of clean energy.