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Shuler Announces $350,000 Appropriation For Clean Energy Incubator

U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler announces funding for a new Clean Energy Business Incubator at A-B Tech's Enka campus.

U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler, Russ Yelton, A-B Tech's Executive Director of Entrepreneurial Ventures and Business Incubation, and A-B Tech President Betty Young display an oversized check for the amount of funding Shuler secured to create a Western North Carolina Clean Energy Business Incubator at the college's Enka Site.

U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler announced a $354,240 appropriation April 11 to create a Western North Carolina Clean Energy Business Incubator at A-B Tech's Enka Site.

"We are so blessed that God has given us so much in Western North Carolina, and we want to preserve the integrity of these mountains and streams," Shuler said. "Our nation is at a crossroads. We need to find new technology for clean energy. We need to be a leader."

Shuler secured the funding in the FY 2008 Omnibus Appropriations Act. The money will be routed from the U.S. Department of Energy to the A-B Tech Foundation for the A-B Tech Business Incubator.

Citing the drop in the number of engineers and mathematicians the U.S. graduates - from its #1 ranking worldwide during the Sputnik era to its current 17th position - Shuler said: "We have to change that, and the area we can change that is with renewable energies."

Shuler said the economic impact of a project like the Clean Energy Business Incubator makes it a good investment. Pointing to A-B Tech's existing Small Business Incubator, which produced 50 jobs and $4 million in revenue last year, he said: "This is your tax dollars going to work."

The Clean Energy project will be developed in conjunction with the Small Business Incubator and will develop and deliver support services for clean energy businesses in WNC as the Small Business Incubator has done for small businesses and the natural products and food industries. The Small Business Incubator is located in a 141,000-square-foot facility donated to A-B Tech by BASF in 2000.

"One of the reasons I was excited about coming to North Carolina (from a previous position as president of a college in Ohio) is the workforce development efforts ... what I saw as true economic development," A-B Tech President Betty Young said. "In Western North Carolina, we are primed for green energy."

Funding from the Department of Energy will be used to:

• Hire a part-time Clean Energy Project Director.
• Create a clean energy demonstration center and testing area within the Small Business Incubator.
• Visit other clean energy programs to learn best practices.
• Develop educational programming that would be delivered primarily online through the creation of a multimedia podcasting and video streaming room.
• Produce a CD series for those with limited access to the online content.
• Support clean energy business plan competitions and the development of clean energy student business projects.

Small Business Center/Incubator

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