LANSING ? Gov. Jennifer Granholm and her economic team will tour the state this week to talk to alternative energy companies about their expansion plans and needs. But she also pushed the Legislature to adopt a renewable energy portfolio to give those alternative energy companies a big boost. Michigan hopes to put alternative energy manufacturing into some of those shuttered auto plants.

Citing companies that are planning to add several hundred jobs combined over the next year or two, Granholm said the state needs to provide whatever assistance it can to help that segment of the economy expand.

“We in Michigan have to diversify this stubborn economy,” she said at a press conference to announce the tour. “We’re going to be focused on diversification in the area of renewable and alternative energy.”

The tour technically began Friday in Lansing with meetings and the press conference, but the first out-of-town stop is planned for Monday in Cassopolis with officials from K&M Machine Fabricating. “They make the stuff that goes into wind turbines,” Ms. Granholm said, with company officials saying they are planning to add more than 150 employees in the coming months.

Supporting businesses like K&M will mean attracting international investment into the state, Granholm said. “There’s going to be worldwide $20 trillion invested in renewable energy,” she said. “No state can capture more of that if we are wise.”

But she said the state needs to adopt the renewable standard, which is the target for utilities to use alternative and renewable energy sources. Granholm said the goal of 25 percent renewables by 2025, as set out in her 21st Century Energy Plan, was a reasonable target.

“We want to be aggressive but we also want to control the cost of energy,” she said. “Other states, when they’ve adopted the alternative portfolio standards, they’ve seen the jobs come.”

Granholm did not, however, fault the Legislature for moving too slowly on the issue. “Clearly the Legislature’s been occupied by a couple other things,” she said, alluding to the budget discussions.

She also praised higher education officials gathered for the press conference for their efforts to provide a workforce for the alternative energy companies, but several officials said they are also using Michigan Works! agencies to find help and have qualified for job training grants to prepare those new workers for their new jobs.

The tour, which will include Skip Pruss, Granholm’s “alternative energy czar”, and Jim Epolito, CEO of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, will also visit companies in Grand Rapids, Detroit, Traverse City, Ann Arbor, Eaton Rapids, Midland, Oakland County and the Upper Peninsula.

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