WARREN, Ohio (WKBN) — U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown visited BRITE Energy Innovators in Warren on Monday to tour the facility and discuss how the recently passed CHIPS Act will support clean energy organizations.
The act is set to invest $829 million in the Manufacturing USA program over the course of five years, making it the largest increase in funding for the program since its inception.
Brown has been a leader in pushing semiconductor legislation through the Senate. The legislation is meant to support Ohio’s automotive and high-tech manufacturing industries.
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“It’s not enough to invest in new technologies here. We have to make sure they’re commercialized in Ohio, they grow new industries in Ohio,” said Brown.
“We have this key moment to reignite manufacturing in Ohio and the industrial Midwest. This new act will boost efforts to manufacture more zero-carbon technology here in America, provide those entrepreneurs we work with everyday access to Department of Energy resources and research and establish a new federal office for clean energy innovation. That’s exciting,” says Rick Stockburger, president and CEO of BRITE Energy.
The legislative package signed by President Joe Biden on Aug. 9 includes funding for domestic semiconductor manufacturing, including support and investment in Ohio manufacturing jobs. Currently, 90% of chip manufacturing capacity is overseas, but with investments like Intel’s in the New Albany semiconductor plant, chips are set to become a major American export out of Ohio.
“With the CHIPS Act and the Inflation Reduction Act, we are finally putting in place a real industrial policy – it’s a new approach that puts American workers and American production first,” says Brown. “This is going to help nurture start-ups like the ones here at BRITE. It’s not enough to invent new technologies here – we have to make sure they’re commercialized in Ohio, that they grow new industries in Ohio, and that they create jobs in Ohio.”
The CHIPS Act includes the National Clean Energy Incubator Program, which supports energy incubators that accelerate the commercial application of clean energy technologies by providing physical workspaces and support.
BRITE Energy Innovators is a nonprofit that helps develop early-stage renewable energy technology companies and is a partner of Youngstown’s America Makes, the nation’s first manufacturing and innovation hub. It served as inspiration for Brown’s 2014 Revitalize American Manufacturing and Innovation Act, which created the network of hubs supporting high-paying, high-tech manufacturing jobs.
“Our Valley’s greatest export has been our young people and legislation like this energizes that magnet to get those talented people back to our area. We are all in this together – I applaud the large bipartisan support in creating a cleaner tomorrow, reshaping our energy future, developing more jobs and making America the place to do it,” says Stockburger.
Read the article by WKBN here.
