The Michigan Strategic Fund has made a $6 Million grant to Dow Chemical, Astraeus Wind Energy, and MAG Automation Systems to establish a Center of Energy Excellence to work on automating the manufacture of wind turbine blades. The initial effort will focus on turbine blade spar caps. The funding provides a match for federal funding received by these companies in December 2009. The goal is to increase production rates of higher-quality components with attractive economics. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, DOE’s largest science and energy lab, will assist Dow in evaluating advanced materials.