Jul 13 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Hiroko Sato The Sun, Lowell, Mass.


It was just a little more than a month ago when Schott Solar, a Germany-based international photovoltaic panel manufacturer, announced it will close its Billerica plant on July 31. More than 220 local jobs, including 180 full-time positions, were wiped out, though the company was trying to offer some of the affected workers jobs at other sites.

Then, a few weeks later, the Toxics Use Reduction Institute at UMass Lowell, a driving force behind greening initiatives among Bay State businesses, found that its $1.5 million in funding had been cut from the state budget. The Institute remains open for now. But 18 staff members are on the verge of losing their jobs, while a number of organizations and companies that have received grants, training and other services at the institute wonder how they will be able to access it in the future.

So where is the green industry headed? Is there as healthy a job growth in the field as government and corporate leaders claim?

Philip Giudice, commissioner of the state Department of Energy Resources, says it is.

"But that doesn't mean it's immune to the economic challenges" that all industries are faced with, he added.

In the field of clean energy, particularly struggling are small companies that need venture capital, Giudice said.

Schott, which just created a $100 million plant in Albuquerque, N.M., has said in its press release that it decided to not to make further investment in the Billerica plant because of its smaller size and limited production scale. Giudice said the company makes a particular type of solar panels that work well in sunny parts of the country.

But overall, the green industry remains strong, says Giudice. In fact, "Clean Energy Economy," a report that the Pew Charitable Trust published just last month, shows Massachusetts saw $1.27 billion worth of jobs created in the field between 2006 and 2008, ranking the second in the nation in terms of the job growth after California's $6.58 billion.

Despite the recession, this trend is expected to sustain or grow in the state, said Marybeth Campbell, director of Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, a quasi-public agency.

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