A renewable energy testing laboratory at Minnesota State University, Mankato is a step closer after Gov. Tim Pawlenty signed a $1.5 million bill that will provide lab equipment and lease space.
The lab will be used for testing Swedish and other green-energy technology, including furnaces and boilers that burn renewable fuels such as pelletized wood. The $1.5 million appropriation, approved by the Legislature May 5 as part of a partnership with Sweden, will come from the state’s federal economic stimulus fund pool.
The International Renewable Energy Technology Institute laboratory will let Minnesota State Mankato faculty and student scientists determine whether Swedish and other biofuels technology will work in the United States. The testing could lead to the manufacture in Minnesota of new products that use renewable combustible fuels.
“It’s a practical business partnership,” said State Rep. Kathy Brynaert, Mankato, of the new institute. “And it will use existing structures.” Brynaert and State Sen. Kathy Sheran, Mankato, spearheaded the funding bill in the Legislature.
John Frey, director of business and industry partnerships in Minnesota State Mankato’s division of Strategic Business, Education and Regional Partnerships, said the new testing facility could be started this year, after funds are allocated in mid-summer. He said the university will seek private funding for the facility’s long-term operation.
“The partnership would benefit both Minnesota and Sweden,” Frey added. “Minnesota would receive technology that it doesn’t have, and Sweden would reach a new market.”
A portion of the legislative appropriation will be used to lease laboratory space, acquire equipment and hire a director. Remaining funds will be set aside for operating expenses, programs to train green-energy industry workers, and future laboratory expansion.
The International Renewable Energy Technology Institute was created by U.S. Ambassador to Sweden Michael M. Wood so the U.S. could collaborate with Sweden on renewable-energy technologies. Sweden is an international leader in research, implementation and commercialization of renewable energy and energy efficiency, supplying 26 percent of its energy needs from renewable sources.
In 2008, Minnesota State Mankato was named the Minnesota academic partner within the institute. Two other partner-states are also participating: New York (represented by the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering of the State University of New York at Albany) and Georgia (represented by the Georgia Institute of Technology).
Minnesota partners, in addition to Minnesota State Mankato, are the BioBusiness Alliance of Minnesota, the Minnesota Department of Employment & Economic Development, and Project Leadership Services.
Minnesota State Mankato is part of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system, which comprises 32 state universities, community colleges, technical colleges and combined community and technical colleges located on 54 campuses across the state.
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