Swedens Carl XVI Gustaf Meets Governor Granholm to Explore New Alternative Energy Business Collaborations and Initiatives

Friday, September 26, 2008: Is Michigan the New Sweden? With fluctuating oil prices, financial uncertainty, and a staggering dependence on imported fossil fuel among other crisis facing consumers, His Majesty Carl XVI Gustaf, King of Sweden visited Michigan as part of an effort to foster business collaborations on alternative energy initiatives. King Carl XVI Gustaf met with Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm. Last year the governor visited Sweden – a country internationally recognized for its development of alternative and sustainable energies – on a business investment mission to build strategic partnerships. The King joined the Governor and local officials in Flint to participate in the official groundbreaking of the one of the first three Centers of Energy Excellence (COEE) sites in Michigan. The project, which will produce alternative energy from waste removed from the citys wastewater treatment plant, is a collaboration of Swedish Biogas International (SBI), Kettering University and the city of Flint with support by the CS Mott Foundation, Swedish agencies and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. Michigan is primed to be the nations home for alternative energy solutions and views Sweden as a role model. The Centers for Energy Excellence program, proposed by the governor in her State of the State address in January and signed into law this summer, is designed to bring companies, academic institutions and the state together to support cutting-edge research and development and pioneer new alternative-energy technology. Swedish Biogas International will utilize $4 million from the COEE program to launch a waste-to-energy/biomethane center at the city of Flints waste water treatment facility. The project will draw upon 15 years of experience that Swedish Biogas has in operating three waste-to-energy facilities in Sweden. Kettering University is a partner in the project and will collaborate with Linköping University in Sweden. Bader TV travelled in the King’s motorcade to produce this report.

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