Holcomb bringing Egypt trip to close

Gov. Eric Holcomb is taking many lessons from his trip to Egypt for an international climate change conference — starting with the need to scale up fast and compete with the world.

He told reporters Friday morning, for example, that he learned about a hydroelectricity project that was shelved in the United Kingdom.

“And it’s a project that on the hydro front that we’re very interested in, in Indiana in the northwest quadrant of our state,” Holcomb said.

While at the United Nations Conference of the Parties he has met with stakeholders in industry as well as federal officials with the U.S. Department of Energy and U.S. Department of Transportation.

He returns Saturday from the trip, which was funded by the Indiana Economic Development Corporation Foundation.

Holcomb’s visit has focused more on Indiana’s economy and energy transition than helping save the environment.

“What I have learned is we often find ourselves trapped in this scenario of it’s either or,” he said. “You either believe in science or you don’t believe in science or you believe in the economy or you believe in the environment. It’s both.”

He noted that different things are going to work in different communities, noting small modular nuclear reactors might work in Indiana but not in other places due to policy.

“There’s so much investment coming out of COVID…there are so many big decisions being made about reshoring and onshoring and building supply chains in clusters and ecosystems and making sure that you’re eliminating all the supply chain pain,” Holcomb said.

He declined to give details about a possible major electric vehicle announcement.

“We’re focused on the future of mobility for all our current (original equipment manufacturers). They’re making hundreds of millions, billions of dollars in investment in hybrid and electric, their future. And we have to make sure that we’re ready for that consumer demand — not too far out in front but not left behind.”

He said the state will be chasing battery storage, recycling expertise, semiconductors and other things critical in the automobile chain.