On Thursday, Nov. 20, about 200 people interested in regional site development came together for Team NEO’s Developing Opportunities event, moderated by the Fund for Our Economic Future Vice President Joan Chase.
As readers know, energy availability is the hottest topic in today’s economic development conversations. The simultaneous challenges of existing grid constraints, growing demand from sectors such as data centers and advanced manufacturing, and the rise of as much as 29% in utility rates for some Ohio commercial customers dominate headlines. The attention the event brought to energy, via keynote speaker Darin Buelow, principal, global location strategy leader at Deloitte Consulting, was right on target.
Refreshing, and far too rare in Northeast Ohio’s economic development conversations, was his assessment of our current competitiveness.
Buelow’s keynote highlighted how important energy availability is for business recruitment. He called attention to where and how certain states are getting energy availability right — anyone listening could easily infer where and how we, in Ohio and this region, are getting it wrong. One example: in Michigan, utilities don’t just provide information about the available options. Instead, they problem-solve with companies to figure out how to get the energy that’s needed. He cited Consumers Energy Company in Michigan, which meets with businesses at prospective sites to provide an array of site-specific energy solutions. This, by the way, includes sustainable options.
Here in Northeast Ohio, the more common economic development approach is to ask, “Can the existing available energy meet the business need?” Energy at a specific site is take-what-you-can-get in the best case. In the worst case, information is challenging to obtain, requiring multiple calls and many months of delay.
Fortunately, we have leaders here in Cleveland actively creating a new reality.
Read the entire piece at Crain’s Cleveland Business.