Michigan manufacturers optimistic about clean energy opportunities, jobs

Some West Michigan manufacturers are switching gears to supply components for renewable energy technologies, which are buoyed by state and federal tax breaks. But will local companies be able to create new jobs quickly enough to offset layoffs, and how soon?

According to excerpts from the story:

GRAND RAPIDS -- Solar power is hot. Wind turbines are terrific. But will renewable energy power up jobs as fast as Michigan's auto industry is switching them off?

"I don't think it's a complete solution, a silver bullet," Grand Rapids lawyer Scott Watson said of the region's growing energy industry. "But it's one component of silver buckshot."

As alternative energy gathers momentum, area manufacturers are dipping their toes into a widening pool of opportunity. What they're hoping to find is an incoming tide of customers and a boatload of tax breaks from state and federal coffers.

Read the complete story here.

Enjoy this story? Sign up for free solutions-based reporting in your inbox each week.