IT WOULD BE A START: 1,000 new jobs for West Michigan?

A solar panel manufacturer offering 1,000 new jobs may want to locate a plant in Kentwood or Coopersville, and state lawmakers on Friday scrambled to make an $18.75 million pool of money available to entice that project and others to Michigan.

Two projects openly being discussed in Capitol hallways in conjunction with the economic incentive bill were an unidentified solar company scouting sites in Kentwood and Coopersville, and a Volkswagen AG plant the state hopes to lure to south central Michigan, lawmakers and lobbyists said.

The thing I like about the solar panel plant is that it's a high-demand product that is going to be growing in importance in the coming decades. New automotive-related jobs are certainly nice, as it allows Michigan to grow on what it already has. But diversifying is always good, particularly when it's something like alternative energy.