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Clean energy industry shows fast job growth
By Peter J. Howe, Globe Staff | August 9, 2007

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.