KINGSTON – Congressman Maurice Hinchey briefed reporters Monday on the need to increase funding for clean energy manufacturing, and he anticipates more federal money to help The Solar Energy Consortium in the region.
Last year Hinchey helped secure nearly $12 million for TSEC and its member companies, part of the $31 million he’s brought to the region since TSEC was created in 2007. And that funding will start to flow into the region this year.
TSEC has already created about 200 jobs, and that job creation is expected to multiply in the next few years.
“We’re anticipating about a 1,000 new jobs over the next few years,” he said.
And that job creation will be bolstered by new TSEC initiative with the state, which will lead to those 1,000 jobs to be created over the next two or three years, he said.
“We are anticipating that announcement will come up in the next few weeks,” he said. “It will be a new business, new company and new jobs that go above the 200 we’ve already created.”
Hinchey said time can longer be wasted to create clean energy jobs in the Hudson Valley as China and India ramp up their efforts to join the green manufacturing sector.
“While we stop importing oil, we will be importing solar energy technology from China or someplace like that,” he said “That is absolutely something we should regard as unacceptable and unreasonable. We need to be generating that technology right here.”
Hinchey also anticipates more federal stimulus money to flow into the region, two-thirds of which has not been doled out yet.
“Of the two-thirds left, there will be stimulus money for school districts, for infrastructure and new technology,” he said.
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Danza Energy is a TSEC partner.
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