The following post is from Eric Steen, Deputy Director of Communications at the BlueGreen Alliance.
Monday, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy Daniel Poneman visited Minnesota to visit the test labs of Daikin McQuay in Plymouth and toured the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 343 clean energy training facility in Rochester (read more about that part of the trip in this post from Katie Gulley, our Regional Program Manager for Minnesota, who attended the event).
Here's the news release from the Department of Energy.
The purpose of the visit was to promote important tax incentives from the Recovery Act that have expired — particularly the 48C Advanced Manufacturing Tax Credit — and highlight the need to sustain other job-creating tax credits, like the Production Tax Credit (PTC) for wind.
Daikin McQuay received $1.4 million in Advanced Manufacturing Tax Credits (48C) under the Recovery Act to expand its manufacturing operations in Fairbault, Minn., and engineering facilities and test labs in Plymouth, Minn. It is the first and only company thus far to meet the Energy Department’s Rooftop Unit Challenge, which challenged manufacturers to produce commercial air conditioning units that use 50 to 60 percent less energy than traditional rooftop cooling units.
The PTC is pivotal to keeping and creating jobs in the wind industry and it is set to expire at the end of this year. Already, companies like Gamesa in Pennsylvania are feeling the crunch from Congress' failure to act to extend it. If action isn't taken soon, more layoffs will follow and opportunities to create good jobs will be missed.
Deputy Secretary Poneman was kind enough to do an interview with the Blue-Green Blog during his trip. Here's the audio:
Both the 48C and the PTC are components of Jobs21!, the BlueGreen Alliance's plan to keep and create good jobs here in America in the industries of the 21st century — renewable energy, manufacturing, energy efficiency, transportation, recycling, broadband Internet, smart grid, and green and safer products and chemicals.
Get the facts take action today to help save and create American jobs by extending these important tax credits.
(PHOTO: Deputy Secretary of Energy Poneman speaks with IBEW Local 343 members in Rochester, MN)