The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (www.masscec.com) defines a clean energy company as “companies primarily working on advanced and applied technologies that significantly reduce or eliminate the use of energy from non-renewable sources, including, but not limited to: energy efficiency; demand response; energy conservation and those technologies powered in whole or in part by the sun, wind, water, biomass, alcohol, wood, fuel cells any renewable, non-depletable or recyclable fuel. “
Are you part of the Clean Energy supply chain?
Based upon a report by the Renewable Energy Policy Project, Massachusetts has “the potential for revitalizing its industrial technology if the potential documented in this Report can be captured.” A national program to develop clean energy will benefit those states with the best resource base and create the demand for billions of dollars in components, the parts that make up the finished clean energy plants. Solar, wind, biomass and geothermal all require parts that are being made or could be made by Massachusetts manufacturers. Yet manufacturers, who know that they are in the clean energy supply chain, feel left out of the “green” movement. The focus has been primarily on construction and trade positions. No one has surveyed the manufacturers to determine their workforce needs as they are called upon to increase the production of clean energy components. In an industry challenged by layoffs and an aging workforce it is inevitable that there will be bottlenecks in the supply chain.
Massachusetts has a manufacturing base relevant to the production of clean energy and stands to benefit greatly from the clean energy supply chain. Manufacturers will need economic and industry association assistance to increase their production capacity and a highly skilled workforce capable of reacting to a challenging, changing market. Without this capacity, clean energy producers will go overseas for parts.
Manufacturing continues as a source of economic growth in Massachusetts. The current Massachusetts manufacturing base has particular strength in precision machining, control of complex processes, production of goods requiring hardware-software integration, and boasts a healthy level of collaboration between research and development.
The high unemployment rate has led many to believe that there are no jobs available. This is not the case for manufacturing employers who are having a difficult time recruiting and hiring workers for existing entry-level jobs because of a skills mismatch.
In the 2009 supplement to the 2005 Skills Gap Report – A survey of the American manufacturing workforce manufacturing organizations continue to report a shortage of critical categories of employees. For example, 51% of the respondents reported moderate to serious shortages today in skilled production (machinists, operators, craft workers, distributors and technicians) in aerospace and defense, automotive, energy & resources, industrial products, and medical devices sectors. The vast majority of the respondents see increased shortages ahead.Moreover, even in the midst of recent layoffs, nearly one-third of companies indicate they still have unfilled positions due to lack of qualified applicants. This may be counter-intuitive, but it appears that even among companies that have experienced layoffs, some of these same companies may be simultaneously recruiting for specific types of employees, with specific types of skills and capabilities, in specific locations.
So are you part of the clean energy supply chain?
Chances are the answer is “yes”. Although it is an admirable goal, green manufacturing means more than just reducing waste in the manufacturing process. It means participating in the making of components that clean energy technology needs to create power.
MassMEP has identified over 800 MA manufacturers who make or have the potential to make component parts for the wind, solar, biomass and geothermal industries. And that is just the visible part of the iceberg. These companies fall within one or more of the identified clean energy NAICS codes that researchers use to quantify data. (A complete listing of Clean Energy NAICS Codes can be found here.) There are so many more manufacturers that supply or could supply parts to these companies and aren’t even counted when attempting to identify the clean energy supply chain. You may not even know that the part you are making for one of your best customers is going into a clean energy component.
The U.S. ranks fifth in the production of solar components. Half of America’s existing wind turbines were not made in the United States. Expanding the clean energy sector without investing in maintaining the U.S. manufacturing base will only result in creating more jobs overseas.
If you are interested in learning more about the Green Supply Chain, please contact Leslie Parady at lesliep@massmep.org or 508-831-7020.
