Texas nearly takes top clean energy jobs spotMay 23 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Jennifer A. Dlouhy Houston Chronicle
Texas added nearly 800 clean energy jobs during the first three months of the year, putting the Lone Star State second only to Idaho and above California, according to an analysis released Thursday. But the 5,600 new clean energy and clean transportation jobs announced nationwide during the first quarter of the year were fewer than half the number announced in the first quarter of 2013, according to Environmental Entrepreneurs, or E2, the non-partisan business group that compiled the figures. E2's executive director, Bob Keefe, suggests more declines could be on the horizon, amid uncertainty about the future of state mandates and federal tax incentives driving renewable energy investments around the country. The biggest hit at the federal level is the disappearance of the renewable energy production tax credit that allows project owners to reduce tax bills by 2.3 cents per kilowatt-hour of electricity produced from renewable sources over 10 years. Prospects for quickly reauthorizing the credit are slim. Wind industry leaders who have championed the credit are up against significant opposition from lawmakers who say it is no longer needed. Meanwhile, an investment tax credit that has been used to finance solar projects with long lead times is set to expire in 2016. Outside Washington, state lawmakers are weighing measures that would scale back or repeal existing mandates that utilities derive some of their electricity from renewable sources such as the wind and sun. So far, renewable energy advocates have been prevailing in most of those fights, notably when the Kansas House voted to retain the state's requirement that utilities draw 20 percent of their electricity from renewable sources. But a similar battle is under way in Ohio. E2's assessment, updated quarterly, tracks announcements of new jobs tied to renewable energy sources, including solar, wind and biomass, as well as initiatives involving recycling, public transportation infrastructure, smart meters, transmission improvements and building efficiency. In Texas, the group counted four big new projects: the Barilla Solar project in Pecos County; the Plainview Orchard Wind project in Plainview; the First Wind project in Armstrong and Carson counties; and Austin-based Thomas Biodiesel's plans to locate a 25,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Temple. Texas fell short of the top spot by just 11 jobs to Idaho, where a single geothermal project is responsible for 802 planned jobs. http://www.energycentral.com/functional/news/news_detail.cfm?did=32582808& |