Massachusetts' fast-growing "clean energy" industry -- companies involved in
fields such as solar and wind power, conservation, and high-efficiency energy
technology -- is poised to add as many as 3,000 jobs this year, according to a
state survey released yesterday.
The green-energy business already accounts for at least 14,400 jobs and is
growing three times as fast as other major industries -- like financial
services, defense contracting, software and communications, and healthcare
technology -- said the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, which conducted
the survey. The quasi-public Westborough agency runs a renewable energy trust
fund backed by utility-bill taxes that invests in green-power projects,
including a new $15 million fund for small firms needing capital to expand.
Renewable-energy companies reported they will increase staff by an average of 30
percent in the coming year, and those that advise businesses and homeowners on
energy efficiency will add an average of 25 percent more employees, the survey
found. In a cluster totaling 255 companies, 77 are renewable-energy start-ups
launched since 2001.
"The clean energy sector is off to a good start in Massachusetts," said Ian A.
Bowles, state secretary of energy and environmental affairs. Bowles said the
state is benefiting from converging trends, including chronic high energy costs,
venture capital funding for energy companies that totaled over $250 million in
Massachusetts last year, and widespread agreement on the need to reduce
emissions that affect the climate.
Governor Deval Patrick has said he wants to make the state a hotbed of energy
technology. In recent months, Massachusetts officials closed deals with
Evergreen Solar Inc. of Marlborough to build a $150 million solar-panel factory
in Harvard and with the US Energy Department to put a testing facility for wind
turbine blades on the Charlestown waterfront.
"Every month we're adding another anchor into this cluster," Bowles said.
Patrick, Senate President Therese Murray, and House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi
agreed last month that by 2010, Massachusetts should offset all of its growth in
electricity demand with increased efficiency and conservation.
Bruce Anderson, chief executive of Wilson TurboPower Inc., a Massachusetts
Institute of Technology spin-off in Woburn that makes high-efficiency industrial
heating gear, said yesterday that industry executives "are solidly on track" to
launch a Massachusetts Clean Energy Council in October. The group, modeled on
similar associations for telecommunications and biotechnology, aims to increase
the sector's visibility and lobby for state policies and utility regulations
that promote renewable energy and efficiency.
Among other findings from the survey, prepared by Global Insight Inc. of
Lexington for the tech collaborative:
Nearly 7 of 10 Massachusetts companies in the clean energy sector have revenue
below $10 million, and 41 percent below $1 million.
California is overwhelmingly seen as the state's chief rival for developing a
"clean energy cluster."
Of the current 14,400 jobs attributed to the sector, 6,258 are in energy
efficiency, 4,016 in "consulting and support" including legal assistance and
funding, 3,985 in renewable energy, and 120 in university research.