Backers of the proposed International Renewable Energy Technology Institute at Minnesota State University will be rooting for Rep. Kathy Brynaert and her House colleagues in their negotiations with the Senate in coming days.
Brynaert, DFL-Mankato, sponsored a $1.5 million appropriation for the center and successfully got it included in a House bill allocating about $200 million in federal economic stimulus funds aimed at energy programs.
The Senate bill dealing with the same federal money provided nothing specifically for IRETI, a partnership with Sweden that would bring that country’s biofuels technology to America where staff at the MSU facility would help prepare it for the U.S. market.
If the Senate approach prevails, IRETI could compete with other proposals around the state for a share of $822,000 of the federal money, said Sen. Kathy Sheran, DFL-Mankato.
Unable to get the $1.5 million allocated in that bill, Sheran worked to get a piece of the money included in a couple of other funding bills. There’s $100,000 in the Senate higher education funding bill and $300,000 in a jobs and economic development bill.
“If it fails in one place, we’ve got our nose under the tent someplace else,” Sheran said.
But the easiest route to success would be if Brynaert is successful during talks in a House-Senate conference committee assigned to find a compromise in how to spend the $200 million in federal funds. Brynaert was one of five House members appointed to that committee Thursday, and she was able to build strong support for the institute during House committee hearings earlier in the session.
IRETI would be a lab where the Swedish renewable energy technology would be readied for manufacture and sale in the United States, according to John Frey, MSU’s director of industry partnerships in the area of renewable fuels and biofuels. The work would include tasks as simple as converting metric to English measures and as complex as performing tests required to make the technology certifiable by Underwriters Laboratories — a prerequisite for sale in the U.S.
Sweden has impressive technology for powering water boilers and furnaces with clean-burning biofuels, including pelletized wood and other biomass, according to Frey, who testified on behalf of IRETI funding at the Capitol.
Frey, Brynaert and Sheran believe the institute would give the region an advantage when the Swedish firms select sites for manufacturing their heating systems for the North American market.
“IRETI is just a fabulous opportunity for our area,” Sheran said.
For more Free Press news go to http://www.mankatofreepress.com/
Email this article | Permanent link | Topstories news | Topstories news archives
Minnesota State
University, Mankato
Mankato, MN 56001
1-800-722-0544
© 2005-2013 Minnesota State University, Mankato. Minnesota State University, Mankato is a member of
Minnesota State Colleges & Universities system and an affirmative action/equal opportunity university.
