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Friday, January 2, 2009
Cache & Packets
Looking toward a new year for clean tech
By Efrain Viscarolasaga
MHT's Efrain Viscarolasaga: Solar installation booms in New England
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MHT reporter Efrain Viscarolasaga on NECN: Green tech brings jobs back to Mass.
By now we are all done with the pomp and circumstance of the holidays, and all we have left to do is take down the decorations, digest the fruitcake and look ahead to 2009.
In clean technology, 2008 gave us highs — six pieces of new green technology legislation, steady funding and a handful of initial public offerings — but also seemed to end with a series of lows, such as closing of the IPO window, funding reductions and layoffs, not to mention the unwanted holiday surprise of Bernard Madoff.
We can only hope 2009 brings a better ratio of highs to the inevitable lows for the local clean tech community. Despite the occasional opinion that we in the media are constantly looking for the seedier side of the story, we at Mass High Tech actually hope the best for all the companies, organizations and people in the region (embezzlers and Ponzi scheme architects aside).
To that end, my short wish list for the local clean energy community:
For solar technologies developer STR Holdings Inc., wind developer First Wind Holdings Inc. and lithium ion battery maker A123Systems Inc., an IPO window. All three companies, in various sectors of the renewable power industry, filed for initial public offerings last year, just prior to the collapse of the IPO market, and all three remain in limbo as the implosion of the financial sector slammed the door on what seemed a promising IPO market a year ago. While most experts don’t expect the public offering window to open for some time, let’s hope it opens at least a crack sooner, rather than later, for three companies that could become significant employers in the region, should clean energy be the next industrial revolution.
For the Cape Wind project, an evangelist with the clout to silence the vocal minority. The Cape Wind drama, which for the uninitiated proposes a 130-turbine offshore wind farm in Nantucket Sound, has dragged on since 2001. Early last year, a spokesperson for Cape Wind supporters declared 2008 would be the year everything would get settled and the project would be approved for permitting and construction. Yet here we are a year later, waiting on a navigation report from the U.S. Coast Guard, which insiders have reported is positive, but was held up at the 11th hour by a congressman from Minnesota, pending the acceptance of more public comments.
The well-publicized situation has already sullied the region’s reputation, garnering Massachusetts an “unfriendly to wind” status, which was arguably a reason for Danish wind turbine maker Vestas Wind’s decision to place its North American headquarters in Texas, rather than the Bay State in 2008. If Gov. Deval Patrick and groups such as the New England Clean Energy Council want to create a world-class clean energy cluster here, Cape Wind needs to be resolved.
For the Patrick administration, blinders. Over the next year, Patrick will have myriad issues to tend to, not the least of which are serious budget shortfalls, but he has been successful at helping the local clean energy industry along, and that needs to continue. Despite budget crises, the Mass Pike, allegations of corruption against city councilors in his capital city and a general decline in the economy, Patrick must not get distracted from his stated goal of building a world-class clean energy cluster in Massachusetts, and by extension, New England.
For the clean energy installers and integrators, more “green collar” workers. Earlier this year, the clean energy council launched a program to bring experienced executives from other technology industries into the clean tech field. But as the program has been hailed as a success, many industry insiders say the next step is for the state and related organizations to create similar programs for midlevel workers — the folks that actually get their hands dirty installing solar, wind or geothermal systems. Positions in those industries are growing, but many observers say more needs to be done to help people like electrical or HVAC workers make the transition to alternative technologies.
If these wishes can be granted, it could be a very happy new year.
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