Thursday, April 17, 2008

Clean energy council to train execs for 'green' work

The New England Clean Energy Council (NECEC) has launched a new entrepreneurial development program that would train experienced executives from other technology industries for the clean energy sector.

The program is aimed addressing what organizers called "a lack of repeat entrepreneurs to help accelerate growth in the sector."

The program will take 25 experienced, CEO-caliber entrepreneurs through a three-month educational program to introduce then to the nuances of doing business in the clean energy sector.

Activities will include classroom sessions, seminars and lectures from people in the region's clean energy industry, project development with local venture capitalists, and on-site visits to clean energy research labs in the area, as well as a visit to the National Renewable Energy Lab in Colorado, in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy.

An outline of the Clean Energy Fellowship program was originally announced in House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi's $50 million Green Jobs Act proposal last month. Should DiMasi's bill pass, the program could receive $2.5 million in funding. The program announced today is expected to act as a pilot program until the fate of the Green Jobs Act is known.

The NECEC will be taking applications through May 1, and the first "semester" is expected to begin May 29 and run through mid-September.

The program is being coordinated by Peter Rothstein, an executive in residence at Flagship Ventures, and Nick d'Arbeloff, executive director of the NECEC. The program has also received support from Massachusetts Technology Collaborative's John Adams Innovation Institute