Wednesday, October 13, 2010

The List

New England's 30 largest cleantech employers

By Lynette F. Cornell

See the table of Largest Cleantech Employers below

Despite its significant presence as measured in venture capital dollars, the cleantech industry is getting held back by the federal government’s lack of a coherent energy policy, according to Peter Rothstein, president of the New England Clean Energy Council.

Last year, North American companies raised $3.5 billion in VC funding, according to a 2010 report from the Cleantech Group LLC. That number is more than triple the amount, just under $1.1 billion, invested in 2002. Yet, according to Rothstein, three major obstacles have been hindering cleantech growth.

First, the global recession has made fewer investor dollars available. Second, the capital intensity of cleantech manufacturing has made finding funding dollars to deploy the product difficult. Third and most challenging, the lack of a federal energy policy in the United States has left uncertainty on how to develop cleantech companies.

Tax credits for cleantech development are being renewed for one to two years at a time, said Rothstein, when the projects relying on these credits need 10 years before reaching the deployment stage. Without a price on carbon or subsidies comparable to what the coal and gas industries receive, he said, renewable energy companies struggle to compete.

“What we need to have is a market that will give clearer pricing signals,” he said.

More federal grant investment is also needed, he said, because the non-dilutive funding is attractive to VCs. Right now, the sectors that are attracting VC attention in New England are energy efficiency, such as LED lighting, and grid management, said Rothstein. While Vermont leads the region in solar deployment, the most wind projects have been popping up in Maine. Biomass is also emerging, gaining the most traction in the northern areas of New England where there is a greater concentration of forests, said Rothstein.