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These details were revealed at a news conference this afternoon that included Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford, Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm and the companies' CEOs.

The renewable energy companies have been courting state lawmakers to win enough tax breaks to make Michigan their top choice for the project. The state legislature is expected to vote on whether to approve a specialized $100 million tax credit for the project as soon as this week, despite concerns Michigan is brushing up against its tax break limit for the year.

Both companies plan to seek federal stimulus money with the U.S. Department of Energy and needed to select a site before Sept. 14, the deadline for applying for a federal loan.

Along with refurbishing the shuttered plant to manufacture solar and battery equipment, the project is expected to establish Wixom as the North American operations for Oerlikon Solar, a Switzerland-based leader in thin-film solar technology. Clairvoyant is working with partner, Oerlikon, to bring manufacturing technology pioneered by the Swiss company for the first time to the U.S.

Landing the project is a major win for the Michigan economic development leaders who've banked on growth in renewable energy as a way to diversify the state's automotive-heavy economy.

Clairvoyant plans to make utility-size solar panels at the site, as well as locate the majority of its engineering and development staff in Wixom.

Xtreme Power builds large-scale batteries for storing power-generated from renewable source, such as wind and solar panels.

Ford joined Gov. Jennifer Granholm and officials from Xtreme Power of Kyle, Texas, and Clairvoyant Energy of Santa Barbara, Calif. The companies plan to buy the 320-acre Wixom Assembly Plant if state tax incentives and federal loans are approved.

The Legislature gave final approval to some of the tax breaks Thursday, while others are expected to be passed and sent to Granholm next week.

Some lawmakers were hoping to get the tax incentives in place in time for a Monday deadline to apply for federal loan guarantees for renewable energy projects. Granholm was confident that the bills would be passed and the project would proceed.

Ford declined to reveal financial terms of the purchase agreement to reporters after the announcement. He said during his speech that the plant served his family's auto company "exceedingly well for half a century," and he "can't imagine a better way to reuse the facility."

The park could employ at least 2,800 workers building storage batteries, solar panels and possibly wind turbines. The companies involved say it could eventually create more than 4,000 direct jobs, including local suppliers.

Less than half of the 4.7 million square feet of building space would be used to make the companies' own products; the rest would be leased to suppliers and other renewable energy companies. The companies also are looking to add a university facility on site to conduct research and train engineers and other highly skilled workers.

Xtreme makes large-scale energy storage and management systems for utilities, wind farms and manufacturers. The batteries can store energy during the night that can be used in the day, for example.

Clairvoyant makes solar power stations. It's helping to build the world's largest rooftop solar plant at a General Motors Co. factory in Spain.

Xtreme would hire 2,500 workers at Wixom between late 2011 and 2014, with the potential to create another 1,500 supplier-related jobs at or near the plant. Clairvoyant, whose manufacturing partner would be Switzerland-based Oerlikon Solar, could hire 300 employees starting in late 2011 and add another 700 later if business is good.

Granholm said the state, which has suffered through many plant closings and the recent bankruptcy reorganizations of GM and Chrysler Group LLC, worked with the parties involved in the energy park proposal to build "a business case that is second to none."

"This is symbolic for Michigan of what we are to become," she said. "We don't want to be viewed as Luddites in this state."

Dave Hardee, chairman and CEO of Clairvoyant, said the state's hard economic times and manufacturing muscle make projects like this crucial.

"Michigan needs (to) and will reinvent itself," he said.

“The phrase ‘new plant’ isn’t one we’re used to hearing these days,” said John Cherry, Michigan’s lieutenant governor, as he stood inside the sprawling, empty building in this industrial town about 20 miles south of Detroit.

Any new factory would be celebrated in this state, which has been hit harder than most by the recession.

But the one in Brownstown held particular significance because it was another small step in Michigan’s efforts to revive its economy with “green” manufacturing.

The state has moved aggressively to offset the drain of traditional auto manufacturing jobs by promoting Michigan as the place to invest in alternative energy projects.

By the end of July, for example, Michigan had already exhausted its full year’s budget of $725 million in tax credits to attract new companies to the state.

Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm has been asking state legislators to allocate more tax credits, specifically to help redevelop an old Ford Motor Company plant in the town of Wixom into a $1 billion green manufacturing center. The legislature is expected to approve an additional $100 million in credits as soon as this week.

Three companies, Clairvoyant Energy from California, Xtreme Power from Texas and Oerlikon Solar from Switzerland have committed to moving into the vacant Wixom plant if tax credits are available. Executives from the companies plan to join Ms. Granholm and Ford’s executive chairman, William Clay Ford Jr., at the plant Thursday to celebrate the redevelopment project, which the state sees as a centerpiece of its green-oriented revival effort.

The chief executive of Clairvoyant Energy, David Hardee, said Michigan was an ideal location for his solar-energy company because of the availability of so many skilled workers and its manufacturing background.

Mr. Hardee said he also had been impressed by the state’s determination to reinvent itself as an incubator of alternative-energy companies.

“Maybe I’m just rooting for the underdog,” Mr. Hardee said of Michigan. “This is exactly what renewable energy is all about.” The Wixom project is expected to create about 4,000 jobs, which would be one of the biggest green-energy developments in the state so far.

There have been other successes. A solar-panel manufacturer has resurrected a closed refrigerator plant in the small city of Greenville in western Michigan. Earlier this summer, General Electric said it would build a research center near Detroit, employing 1,100 workers on wind-turbine technology.

Since 2005, the number of green jobs in Michigan has grown by 8 percent, while construction jobs have declined 20 percent and manufacturing jobs have fallen 14 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Still, the 35,000 green jobs represent less than 1 percent of the state’s overall 3.9 million jobs. And with more auto plants slated to close because of the reorganizations of G.M. and Chrysler, Michigan is pushing hard to do whatever it can to replace them.

Ms. Granholm, with the assistance of the state’s Congressional delegation, has made green manufacturing a top priority in Michigan, where the unemployment rate hit 15 percent, the highest in the nation, last month.

“Michigan intends to lead the nation in this green industrial revolution,” Ms. Granholm said at an automotive conference in Traverse City, Mich., last month. “We are not going to dig our heels in. We are going to lead.”

The state’s job losses for this decade are expected to reach 1 million by the end of 2010. Large alternative-energy projects have the potential to offset some of the decline, said Greg Main, president of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.

“It’s not big numbers at this point,” Mr. Main said. “It pales in comparison to a million jobs lost, but I think we’re on our way.”

The Obama administration is supporting Michigan’s efforts. Last month, the president announced $2.4 billion in financing for advanced battery and electric-vehicle projects across the country, with more than half of the money going to companies in Michigan.

State officials project that battery projects will create almost 7,000 jobs in the next 18 months, and 40,000 by the year 2020.

The plant in Brownstown, while small, is G.M.’s first venture into assembling batteries for its own vehicles. With most battery production now concentrated in Asia, the G.M. facility is considered a step toward building a manufacturing base in the United States.

News of plant openings is at least giving the residents of some beaten-down cities something to talk about.

The city of Greenville, near Grand Rapids, lost 3,000 jobs in 2006 when the appliance maker Electrolux closed its century-old refrigerator plant and moved production to Mexico.

About 400 workers now build solar panels in the factory complex for United Solar Ovonic. Even though it’s a much smaller work force, the operation has prompted the city to adopt a new nickname: “Greenerville.” The plant, said State Representative Mike Huckleberry, has given the city a new, albeit fragile, feeling of hope.

“We need manufacturing jobs,” said Mr. Huckleberry. “We have people going to bed hungry in my town. People are hungry. They need jobs.”

The announcement of the funding award is another in a series of significant economic development news for the City of Kyle. In 2006, RSI, Inc. announced that the computer ruggedization company was moving from its current Austin location to Kyle. The City also welcomed its first full service grocery store in June when the new HEB Plus opened. Earlier this year, the Seton Family of Hospitals announced plans to construct a hospital along with an accompanying professional park and retail development.

Founded in 2004, Xtreme Power (www.xtremepowersolutions.com) designs, manufactures and markets power systems products capable of storing, conditioning, and leveling electricity at extremely high efficiencies from 100KW through megawatt range. Their solutions to peak power demands offer low total cost, high reliability, small footprint, high efficiency, and long life with virtually no maintenance.

View PDF: http://www.cityofkyle.com/documents/KyleQuarterlyQ307Web_000.pdf

The Emerging Technology Fund's investment into Large Scale Load Leveling and Micro Grid technology from Xtreme Power has the potential to drastically change the landscape of the power industry throughout Texas and beyond. Xtreme Power is developing large scale load leveling power systems capable of storing and delivering very large amounts of electricity at previously unattainable low cost. This technology is projected to deliver consumer cost savings up to 50 percent and increase power generation utilization by up to 35 percent. This combination allows for solutions to remote power problems that have previously been unattainable to areas such as the Texas "colonias," unincorporated settlements along the Texas-Mexico border.

Xtreme Power has formed a collaborative relationship with both Texas State University (TSU) and the University of Texas. Both universities are technical advisors to the project, and TSU will leverage its mission of hands-on technology training by providing students to work directly on the projects.

Texas' investment in Large Scale Load Leveling and the Micro Grid project will have immediate and long term benefits for the state, even aside from its groundbreaking technology. The project will employ several hundred engineering and skilled-production jobs within the first five years, and has the potential to result in thousands of new jobs throughout the Texas power generation and delivery supply chain.

Source: http://members.texasone.us/site/PageServer?pagename=Case_Study_Xtreme_Power