After the failure of solar-panel maker Solyndra, it’s easy for pundits to generalize about the fate and reality of the clean technology industry in the United States. However, here in Colorado, it’s real and it’s here.
First, let me note that it’s not unusual for companies like Solyndra to fail in an era of rapid change and growth — and it’s especially likely when new industries are forming.
If there’s one thing that’s common in pioneering industries like telecom, IT, biotech and cleantech (and even automobiles, back in the day), it’s the business churn. Companies start, fly high, and then crash and burn pretty frequently. Any investment, — especially government investment — in companies where technology is moving very quickly is going to be risky.
More importantly, Solyndra’s failure cannot be used as an argument that the solar industry is a pipe dream, since companies like Abound Solar, Solar City and First Solar are still adding jobs with business plans and technologies that can compete globally. And we’ll know soon if GE’s investment in Arvada-based Primestar Solar leads to successful results.
It’s not only solar jobs that are growing in Colorado. We’ve also seen recent job growth in other sectors such as bio-fuels, wind power, clean transportation and energy efficiency from companies as diverse as OPX Bio, Vestas, Boulder Wind Power, Coolerado, Ravenbrick and Tendril that continue to add jobs to Colorado’s workforce.
It’s not an exaggeration to say that it’s both innovation and policy that are driving this genuine growth.
The Colorado Cleantech Industry Association’s (CCIA) Clean Tech Action Plan identifies the convergence of policy and innovation as one of the key drivers of the development of the cleantech industry in the state. State policy initiatives championed by former Gov. Bill Ritter, as well as executive talent and the federal lab and university technology expertise in the state, already have positioned us to see continued growth in cleantech sectors like wind and solar power, bio-derived products and smart grid technologies.
The CCIA continues to urge state and federal policymakers to fully fund DOE, ARPA-E and other advanced energy technology programs that focus on transferring and commercializing clean technologies in order to make a global impact.
We were gratified to see the Colorado General Assembly and the administration of Gov. John Hickenlooper pass funding for the Clean Technology Discovery Evaluation Grant program that supports efforts to move university clean technology into the marketplace. In order to remain globally competitive, the U.S. and Colorado must continue their support for clean technology innovation and commercialization.
Policy support is also responsible for job growth of many of these sectors, and while it’s easy and politically expedient to yell about subsidizing the renewable energy industry, the truth is much more complicated.
It’s very expensive to develop energy projects, regardless of the source of the fuel. For many years, traditional energy sectors have received subsidies via the federal tax code that allows companies to partially write off the capital costs of exploration and development of oil and gas fields. Since renewable sources have similar needs, albeit above the ground, incentives such as the production tax credit and regulatory policies like a renewable portfolio standard have done nothing more than level the playing field so renewable energies can be harvested as equitably as carbon-based energies.
It’s not a stretch to say that the manufacturing jobs created by Vestas, the solar installation jobs created by Solar City, and engineering and planning jobs created by RES Americas in Colorado were driven by this idea.
With global energy use expected to jump 53 percent by 2035, why shouldn’t we support both innovation and policy initiatives for an industry that, in Colorado, is already showing results and has immense potential?
Christine Shapard is executive director of the Colorado Cleantech Industry Association.
