The past couple of years have been full of dark days for companies that manufacture parts for carmakers and the aerospace industry. But when Michael Peck assesses the prospects for those firms in Missouri, he sees lots of sun in the forecast—and lots of wind, too.
If, that is, the state is prepared to capitalize on an opportunity emerging right under its nose with developments in renewable energy sources, developments that are taking place on a global scale.
“Right now, in the U.S., states are breaking down into winners and losers in the green economy,” said Peck, a spokesman for the U.S. operations of Spanish turbine-maker Gamesa. “It’s happening right in front of our eyes.”
Global companies, he said, are already making calls on where to expand their operations, “and they’re choosing between three regions of the world: The U.S., China and Western Europe,” Peck said, speaking at a recent assembly hosted by a renewable-energy interest group called the Apollo Alliance. One edge that states like Missouri have in that kind of worldwide competition, Peck said, is that voters here have already embraced renewable energy standards for the state, something that only Colorado and Washington state have also done.
That demonstrates to global organizations that Missouri has the frame of mind needed to make their investments pay off, he said. But he cautioned that acting on the vision laid out for Missouri in the renewable sector will require a sense of urgency.
Chris Chung, of the public-private Missouri Partnership, hopes to help provide some of that urgency. The partnership focuses on improving the state’s business climate, in part by attracting new companies. So Chung has been able to study companies that specialize in renewable energy—and the potential jobs they could keep or create here.
Renewable energy, he said, touches on three key issues facing business today: environmental sustainability, energy independence and economic development. That’s why Missouri has been aggressively courting companies in Europe, where the renewable energy sector is a much more mature industry.
Their wealth of experience, he said, “represents a real opportunity for states like Missouri.” Each of the massive turbines that convert wind into electricity requires as many as 7,000 working parts, he said, and many can be supplied by auto or aviation manufacturers if they can get the help they need to retool and retrain.
“If they can become component suppliers for something like the wind industry, that represents a whole new growth curve that these companies can get on and provide economic opportunities in the state for years and years to come,” Chung said.
The factors at work for the state, he said, are important ones: “Missouri, with its strong transportation network, with its low cost of doing business, with its work force that knows how to make stuff, with its renewable energy standards—all of those combine to make this a pretty attractive place for renewable energy investment,” he said.
Kansas, by far the bigger potential wind source, is already seeing hundreds of green jobs emerge.
Siemens Energy, which didn’t launch wind-power operations until 2004, is gaining ground rapidly in that area. It hopes to begin shipments late this year from a new 300,000-square-foot turbine-assembly plant in Reno County, employing more than 400 people. And the company is also planning an additional 80,000-square-foot nacelle-servicing facility in that county.
More recently, a Denmark-based producer of wind-turbine components, the Jupiter Group, is creating 120 jobs in Junction City with a new production facility. That 41,000-square-foot site is expected to be open by Aug. 1. As with Missouri’s attributes, Kansas offers a pro-business climate, skilled workforce and a composites infrastructure, Jupiter’s officials said.
Gov. Mark Parkinson said the expansions wouldn’t stop there. “With a continued focus and commitment to this industry,” he said, “Kansas will become a major hub for wind farms and turbine factories.”
BUT WHAT IS GREEN?
Part of the challenge for policymakers trying to chart a new economic course, or for those attempting to measure the true impact of green jobs, is that there is no standardized definition of what constitutes “green” employment.
Consider bicycle repair. It’s been around since before the internal-combustion engine gave us the automobile. Bicycling can, or course, help reduce vehicle emissions and give such work a new role in sustainability, but does that make it a green job?
More clearly green in nature are newer positions involving such specialized skills as photovoltaic cell installation or solar-panel production.
Despite that classification issue, the emergence of this job sector is making a significant impact on the structure of the U.S. work force. The Pew Charitable Trust conducted a 2009 survey showing the number of clean energy jobs in Missouri grew twice as fast as employment overall between 1998 and 2007. And while that sector hasn’t been spared the layoffs many other industries have had since 2008, the job losses there haven’t been as severe, either.
Creating more of those jobs is the goal of federal legislation offered by Sen. Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat. In concert with a House measure intended to provide capital for small and mid-size firms, sponsors say 680,000 green manufacturing jobs could be created or retained by 2015, along with 2 million related jobs in other business sectors.
That’s just one federal effort to help expand the green work force. The Department of Labor, for instance, has dished out $440 million to train workers in green jobs, money set aside under last year’s stimulus package. Kansas received nearly $6 million from that retraining fund; Missouri also picked up $6 million. Virtually every other Cabinet agency, from Defense to Agriculture to Commerce, administers similar programs.
BACK TO SCHOOL
Changes are taking place, too, at the work-force instructional level.
Earlier this year, Pinnacle Career Institute rolled out a new wind-turbine technician program, an 11-month course.
“We’ve all heard about careers in green technologies being the wave of the future,” said Blake Faulkner, PCI’s president. “In regards to the need for wind-turbine technicians, that wave is here now.”
Metropolitan Community Colleges is also laying groundwork for green careers through its Sustainable Technology Center. The network of campuses on the Missouri side of Kansas City is developing coursework to teach skills in photovoltaic or solar-thermal installation, and specialties grounded in energy efficiencies and sustainability.
At Johnson County Community College, 19 students enrolled last fall for a new program in residential building energy audits, said Darcy McGrath, dean for work-force development and operations. Through it, JCCC offers a traditional certification program, an associates degree, or fast-track certification, she said.
“Several of those who enrolled were interested in starting their own business,” she said. JCCC also plans to add courses next spring in photovoltaic system installation and site analysis, adding to its offerings for LEED certification.
Like other schools, JCCC is trying to hit a moving target with green-sector training: “We are addressing the immediate need,” McGrath said, “but one of the challenges all educational systems have is making sure we don’t put the cart before the horse. Jobs are not as plentiful right now, but we’re trying to be prepared for when the economy does bump up.” 