WisBusiness: Doyle announces $7.3M for ‘clean energy’ companies

WisBusiness Staff

Gov. Jim Doyle today announced $7.3 million in grants and loans for “clean energy” companies, including nearly $2.5 million for eight Madison-area businesses.

The funds come from the Wisconsin Energy Independence Fund, and Doyle said investments in new technologies will help to wean the country off the foreign oil usage that threatens national security and the environment.

“We are at a point I hope in this country … where we realize our energy situation can’t be ignored,” he said at a press conference at the office of GreenStone Technologies, a company that is working to develop solar window.

Doyle also touted his energy independence plan to generate 25 percent of the state’s electricity and 25 percent of fuels for automobiles from renewable sources by 2025 and to capture 10 percent of the market share of renewable energy and byproducts. He said with investment in business and Wisconsin’s research infrastructure, the state could become “the Saudi Arabia of renewable energy.”