Sunday, November 29, 2009

One month and one day ago came the big -- and hugely welcome -- news that Boeing would bring 3,800 jobs our way by putting a manufacturing facility for its 787 Dreamliner in North Charleston. Six days ago, another uplifting economic story broke as the U.S. Energy Department announced a $45 million federal grant to help establish a $98 million "test bed" on the former Charleston Naval Base for the world's largest wind turbines. SC Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell predicts that this project, which will be part of the Clemson Restoration Institute, will eventually generate from 10,000 to 20,000 jobs.

While that sounds quite optimistic, the Charleston Republican sounded quite serious, insisting Friday that it was a "conservative" estimate. But even if Sen. McConnell's low-end forecast of 10,000 jobs is three times the actual total, the cutting-edge initiative at Clemson University's Restoration Institute would still give local employment numbers a boost of Boeing-esque proportions.

And with South Carolina's unemployment rate at a painful 12.1 percent, we need all the employment encouragement we can get.

Clemson plans to start construction early next year on the new facility in a warehouse next to its present site and open it in late 2012.

Sen. McConnell called the Restoration Institute's victory a "vindication" of his successful, long-term efforts to provide state funding for it. The institute, initially created to restore the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley, drew persisting criticism from, among others, Gov. Mark Sanford, who repeatedly branded it as a waste of public money.

Sen. McConnell, in full and justified "I told you so" mode Friday, told us that if the state hadn't established the institute "we would never have been in the wind-turbine business." He added: "It just goes to the whole concept of investing in the knowledge-based economy."

Part of the knowledge obtained in the Hunley project involved saltwater corrosion. Just as preserving the Hunley required overcoming that challenge, so does protecting ocean-based wind turbines.

That makes the $53 million of mainly state money used to win this prize a wise investment.

Sen. McConnell gave proper credit to former Friends of the Hunley Chairman Warren Lasch, who saw the need to extend the potential of the restoration institute beyond the Hunley work. He also hailed the contributions of Clemson officials, North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey and his city council, local port officials and assorted lawmakers, including state Sens. Larry Grooms, R-Bonneau, and Robert Ford, D-Charleston. Sen. McConnell pointed out that Sen. Ford "stuck with us" and "helped us get the votes together" to sustain the project despite drawing heat from his political base for backing the costly restoration of a Confederate relic.

But this new Restoration Institute mission isn't about protecting a relic of the past. It's about developing a renewable energy source for the future.

South Carolina is making a serious move in the race to profit from the emerging wind-turbine boom. For instance, General Electric is already making turbines near Greenville and might announce a significant expansion on the wind front in our state soon.

The Naval Base site already has a major advantage in this competition -- our deep-water port. The wind turbines built there would be so large that they would have to be shipped out by water.

As for the rail needed to bring in materials for turbine production, Sen. McConnell said that "we're going to solve" the problems of rail access at the proposed new port facility on the base.

And by moving toward becoming a major player in not just the airliner but the wind-turbine business, our state is making positive progress toward solving our economic problems.

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