GE Center of Excellence will Make Atlanta Worldwide Hub for Smart Grid Breakthroughs

(BUSINESS WIRE)--The leading worldwide resource for clean, reliable, efficient energy delivery will be headquartered in Atlanta, Ga., with the opening of GE’s (NYSE: GE) Digital Energy business’ new Smart Grid Technology Center of Excellence (COE), the company announced today. The center is another demonstration of GE’s commitment to discovering and deploying clean, sustainable and economically viable energy solutions to satisfy ever-increasing worldwide energy demand.

“Research on smart grid technologies and their related systems is important at Georgia Tech, so there are limitless opportunities to collaborate with GE”

“Atlanta is an ideal location for us to continue to grow our smart grid business,” said Bob Gilligan, vice president—digital energy for GE Energy Services. “This new center of excellence will strengthen our green workforce and help GE continue to create solutions to better address our 21st century energy needs.”

The center is expected to add about 400 new jobs over three years. It will combine the world headquarters for GE’s Digital Energy business, a world-class smart grid engineering laboratory and a world-destination smart grid customer solutions showcase.

To help develop and deliver the leading-edge technologies and solutions planned for the COE, GE will need a highly trained “green” workforce. Funding from the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 is being used to train and build a solid, energy-savvy human resource that will benefit the Atlanta area for years to come.

In addition to federal government cooperation, the Georgia Economic Development Office and the Georgia governor’s office worked with GE to help secure the green jobs for Atlanta.

“GE Energy’s decision to expand its presence in Georgia through the opening of the Smart Grid Technology Center of Excellence supports our state’s strategic growth as a global leader in the energy sector,” said Governor Perdue. “The solutions that will be developed at the Smart Grid Technology Center of Excellence not only benefit GE’s customers, but also will serve as a model for smart and responsible energy production throughout this industry.”

The smart grid lab features collaboration between GE and the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), one of the nation’s top research universities. The partnership will work to develop and test new smart grid technologies that can help improve the efficiency, reliability and environmental impact of energy transmission, distribution and consumption—from integrating more renewable energy sources, like wind and solar, to lowering the peak power demand that lowers the need for new power plants, to improving the ways consumers manage their power usage.

“Research on smart grid technologies and their related systems is important at Georgia Tech, so there are limitless opportunities to collaborate with GE,” said Greg King, Strategic Partners Office at Georgia Tech. “We look forward to working with GE in this latest area of technology and innovation.”

The smart grid customer solutions showcase will feature hands-on interactive displays that can help visitors from throughout the world understand the challenges and opportunities inherent in delivering electricity over the power grid. Visitors will see how changes in the ways power is generated, delivered and consumed can improve the ways they live—from plug-in car charging and home energy management to renewable generation and automated grid communications networks. The showcase also will feature in-depth demonstrations to help educate grid engineers about the proven energy-saving solutions available.

“Georgia and metro Atlanta’s relationship and experience with GE is solid. The Chamber is proud to have partnered with the state to help GE with this new headquarters project,” said Hans Gant, senior vice president of economic development for the Metro Atlanta Chamber. “GE has steadily grown its presence in Atlanta for a number of years and has had success in managing their worldwide energy and infrastructure organizations from Atlanta. The high-paying jobs this new facility will create are the kinds of jobs where the Chamber’s New Economy Task Force recommended we focus our efforts. Atlanta has everything GE needs to continue to succeed: talent, quality of life and access to market.”

GE will move into the new headquarters in July, and the customer showcase is scheduled to open in September.

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Statement by John Baumstark, CEO of Suniva, on Being Recognized by Governor Perdue in the State of the State Address

(BUSINESS WIRE)--“Over the past year, Suniva has had a great relationship with the state and Governor Perdue's office. We were honored to be recognized in the Governor's speech as a stand out in the renewable energy sector, bringing new technology and industry to Georgia.

“As the governor stated, Suniva was born in the labs of Georgia Tech. Our Georgian heritage is a major part of our success, and we plan to continue our relationship with Georgia Tech as we lead the world in the pursuit of low cost, high efficiency solar technology here at home.

“With the help of sound economic policies from the Governor, we plan to build upon our many early successes and continue creating jobs here in Georgia in 2009 and beyond.”

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Economic Impact of University System Reaches $11 Billion

An updated report offers confirmation that Georgia’s public university system continues to be one of the state’s key economic engines. Together, the 35 institutions of the University System of Georgia (USG) packed an economic impact totaling $11 billion on the state’s economy during Fiscal Year 2007.

The Intellectual Capital Partnership Program (ICAPP), an initiative of the Board of Regents' Office of Economic Development, commissioned the Selig Center for Economic Growth in the University of Georgia's Terry College of Business to analyze data collected between July 1, 2006, and June 30, 2007, to calculate the University System’s FY2007 economic impact. This work updates a similar study conducted on FY2004 data that placed the University System’s economic impact at $9.7 billion. The first such study calculated the USG’s impact at $7.7 billion in FY1999.

In addition to the $11 billion in total impact generated by the University System in FY2007, the study determined that Georgia’s public higher education system is responsible for 106,267 full- and part-time jobs – 2.6 percent of all the jobs in the state or about one job in 39. Approximately 42 percent of these positions are on-campus jobs and 58 percent are positions in the private or public sectors that exist because of the presence in the community of USG institutions.

Locally, Clayton State University has an economic impact on its region (the Southern Crescent) of 1,737 jobs. Initial spending in the Southern Crescent generated by the University for FY2007 was just under $120 million and the output impact of the University was just under $184 million.

“All 35 of the University system’s institutions are economic engines in their communities and the state,” said study author Dr. Jeffrey M. Humphreys, director of economic forecasting for the Selig Center. “The benefits they provide permeate both the private and public sectors of the communities that host the campuses. For each job created on a campus, there are 1.4 off-campus jobs that exist off-campus because of spending related to the college or university. These economic impacts demonstrate that continued emphasis on colleges and universities as a pillar of the state’s economy translates into jobs, higher incomes and greater production of goods and services for local households and businesses.”

Humphreys’ report quantifies the economic benefits that the University System of Georgia’s institutions convey to the communities in which they are located. He determined that $7.3 billion (66 percent) of the $11 billion in total economic impact was due to initial spending by USG institutions for salaries and fringe benefits, operating supplies and expenses, and other budgeted expenditures, as well as spending by the students who attended the institutions in FY2007. Re-spending – the multiplier effect of those dollars as they are spent again in the region – accounted for another $3.8 billion (34 percent). Researchers found that, on average, for every dollar of initial spending in a community by a University System institution, an additional 52 cents was generated for the local economy hosting a college or university.

The Selig Center’s research has its limitations – it neither quantifies the many long-term benefits that a higher-education institution imparts to its host community’s economic development nor does it measure intangible benefits, such as cultural opportunities, intellectual stimulation and volunteer work, to local residents. Spending by USG retirees who still live in the host communities and by visitors to USG institutions (such as those attending conferences or athletic events) is not measured, nor are additional sources of income for USG employees, such as consulting work, personal business activities and inheritances.

“Another important aspect of this study is that we have very detailed data across institutions that can be used for a wide range of planning purposes by the Board of Regents and other state and local agencies, as well as the private sector,” said Humphreys.

Seven institutions in the metro Atlanta area – Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia State University, Clayton State University, Kennesaw State University, Southern Polytechnic State University, Atlanta Metropolitan College and Georgia Perimeter College – accounted for almost $4.5 billion of the University System’s $11 billion total, and 40,700 jobs.

“This Economic Impact Report continues to be an invaluable study,” said Terry Durden, interim assistant vice chancellor of the University System’s Office of Economic Development. “It conclusively demonstrates that – beyond all the benefits colleges and universities offer communities through a more educated society, cultural opportunities and other activities – our campuses have an ongoing and powerful economic impact on communities large and small.”