91ÊÓƵ

Editor’s note: The Daily Journal of Commerce this month is examining changes for the American workforce as baby boomers start to retire. Today, the 91ÊÓƵ looks at the energy industry. See also: Construction, Real estate, Architecture

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» Verde Energy introduces the unemployed to a tough job
» Going out: Q&A with Roy Rinard, 62, PGE lineman
» Coming in: Q&A with Betty Fung, 22, renewable energy engineering student

Also in this series

» Constriction: As boomers retire, threat of hollow workforce looms

Oregon politicians for the past few years have said that renewable energy has the job creation potential to pull the state out of its financial quagmire. But the state’s alternative energy industry, while critically important to develop, may not be the instant-job creator politicians have pitched.

Students graduating from renewable energy and energy efficiency programs are finding competition is high for the high-paying, highly technical jobs available in solar and wind technology. Meanwhile, industry advocates say Oregon and the country as a whole are dragging their feet on long-term energy policies that would allow the job market for renewables to expand.

If you add up all of the people working in conventional energy, from coal miners and pipeline builders to utility employees, there are less than one million jobs, according to Robert Whelan, director of economic consulting firm ECONorthwest. The fact is, Whelan said, the promise of clean energy jobs is touted as being far more than is really needed to sustain the industry.

“Green energy jobs have been nationally oversold,” Whelan said. “Power production and delivery is capital intensive, not work intensive. The wage rates are very high for these jobs, but the number of workers is low.”

That’s not to say job growth in renewable energy is stagnant. Oregon’s solar energy industry employs 1,000 people in manufacturing and hundreds of people in installations, according to Glen Montgomery, executive director of the Oregon Solar Energy Industry Association. The state has seen 30 percent growth in solar installations each year for the past decade, with 1,400 residential solar installations performed this year alone.

The growth is directly tied to Oregon renewable energy policies, Montgomery said, like the Renewable Portfolio Standard, business and residential energy tax-credit programs and the pilot feed-in tariff program for solar. But with the state facing a budget deficit for the next biennium, Montgomery said future predictions for job growth in solar are murky.

“We don’t know what we’re going to see next year from a legislative policy angle,” Montgomery said. “We will continue to see double digit growth in the employment arena as it corresponds to investments in manufacturing and demand for the industry. Whatever policies we continue or enact in the next year will stimulate or dis-incentivize job growth.”

Despite what’s happening with energy policy, colleges are busy creating new programs and bolstering old programs to create a workforce for the renewable and energy efficiency industries at all of Oregon’s major universities. Community and trade colleges, like Columbia Gorge Community College, Lane Community College and the Oregon Institute of Technology, have created programs specifically for renewable energy technicians and engineers.

And while schools are presumably keeping track of their individual graduate numbers, Colin Price of the Oregon Environmental Council said he was not aware of anyone gathering statewide data and comparing the numbers with actual job demand in Oregon.

Anecdotally, however, educators like Eric Westerholm with the Northwest Energy Education Institute say the Oregon job market for clean energy is saturated. The Institute for the last thirty years has offered training in building energy efficiency, and recently added training in renewable energy installations. Though there is small but steady growth in jobs for work related to photovoltaic and solar hot water installations, Westerholm said only the most competitive of his graduates are likely to obtain jobs locally. For the rest, he often recommends looking for employment in the energy industries in other states.

“You have to have the highest work ethic, the patience to build a network of contacts and the willingness to pick up extra education while you wait,” Westerholm said. “That’s how you get your foot in the door for renewable energy.”

While an average coal-fired or natural gas plant has only 50 to 70 employees, a wind or solar farm has even fewer, Whelan said, which is why there is so much competition. There is a lot of work to be had by the construction workers who prepare sites with roads and other infrastructure, and for the manufacturers that make the parts. But as far as permanent positions, a wind farm is fairly low maintenance and requires little staff. And while Oregon has attracted some manufacturing in solar, most of the wind manufacturing is done in the mid-West, Whelan said.

“Production of equipment for alternative energy doesn’t have to be next to where you use it,” Whelan said. “Bonneville Power Administration has made us the pinnacle of hydroelectric power, but none of that equipment is made in the Northwest.”

A lack of action on long-term policies that put a preference on renewable energy over fossil fuels, Westerholm said, is perhaps the greatest barrier to more jobs for his graduates.

“The longer we wait to lay the groundwork for the future, the more precarious our position becomes,” Westerholm said. “We have to step up and support those industries and technologies we can clearly see will be a part of our future.”

Future hiring at Oregon’s largest energy employers will depend on implementation of strong federal policies, according to Jan Johnson, spokesperson for Iberdrola. Iberdrola employs 350 people at its Portland headquarters, and will hire 70 wind technicians next year to fill openings at recently completed projects.

Iberdrola, and other employers like SolarWorld and Vestas are watching congress this month to see if action will be taken on a two-year extension of the , which provides cash grants in lieu of tax credits for renewable energy projects. The program, which expires at the end of 2010, has resulted in 52 new alternative energy projects in Oregon since it was enacted in late 2009, but is not included in President Obama and Congress’s recent tax agreement for 2011.

“Without strong public policy support for renewable energy, there will be a reduction in job growth,” Johnson said. “We are concerned about the expiration of the Treasury Grant Program as well as the status of other federal and state policies to help continue the growth of the industry.”