LANSING, Mich. — Two alternative energy companies planning to buy a closed Ford Motor Co. factory near Detroit want to convert it into the country's largest renewable energy park, with at least 2,800 workers building storage batteries, solar panels and possibly wind turbines.
The proposed $725 million project outlined to state lawmakers Wednesday would be a coup for a state in desperate need of jobs. Michigan, with the highest unemployment rate in the nation, hopes to become a major player in the green economy.
"It's not just that our city needs it or our county needs it. Our state needs it," said Kevin Hinkley, the mayor of Wixom, where the plant would be located. "We need to look at the new frontier."
Xtreme Power of Kyle, Texas, and Clairvoyant Energy of Santa Barbara, Calif., said that if state tax incentives and federal loans are approved, they will purchase and refurbish the sprawling 320-acre Wixom Assembly Plant 25 miles northwest of Detroit, which was closed in 2007 as part of Ford's restructuring after churning out cars for 50 years.
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