Mo. posts highest gains for clean energy job growth

Who’s leading clean energy job growth in the Midwest?

According to Carlsbad, Calif.-based economic research firm BW Research Partnership, it’s the Show-Me State.

BW’s Clean Jobs Midwest report shows 52,479 Missourians worked in a clean energy profession last year, a 33 percent increase over 39,419 in 2014. The report compiles U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics research and a survey of 20,000 businesses in the 12-state region.

However, an industry expert said the growth is somewhat skewed.

“Part of that is because we started with lower numbers than Illinois,” said Josh Campbell, executive director of nonprofit Missouri Energy Initiative, pointing to Illinois’ leading 113,918 clean energy jobs. “The other part is when we look at the states they count, we are one of the more industrialized compared to Kansas or Nebraska, so it’s easier for us to be involved.”

Industry projections say another 4,300 jobs should come online in 2016, for 8 percent growth in Missouri.

Most of Missouri’s job count is found in the energy efficiency sector, which claims 38,000 jobs, or 73 percent of the state’s total. Heating, ventilation and air conditioning companies are driving growth through installation and service of energy efficient systems.

Although SS&B Heating & Cooling Inc. wasn’t part of the report survey, President Mike Childers said the company filled four open technician slots in the last 12-18 months after years of looking for new hires.

“Over the past three to four years, it has been a struggle,” Childers said. “There’s very few people looking to get into construction and labor work anymore.”

Clean and green
According to the report, the Springfield MSA’s 3,213 clean energy jobs represent 6 percent of the state’s total, and three out of four of the local jobs are in energy efficiency.

For SS&B, demand for those projects has grown in recent years. The next six to eight months reflect a steady but manageable workload for Childers’ 15 technicians, so he doesn’t anticipate adding employees in 2016.

Presently, homeowners make up the majority of customers willing to buy a more expensive system to create lower utility bills over time.

“If you’re going to be there five years or beyond, they are looking at the higher efficiency,” Childers said. “They’re looking to the future.”

Comparatively, while businesses tend to be budget-minded when it comes to replacing HVAC systems in existing buildings, Childers said new construction projects are trending toward green energy and efficiency measures.

However, Missouri loses points in new construction, according to the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy. The Show-Me State ranks No. 44 in the nonprofit organization’s state policy database.

“Some of the things they draw us down on are not having a statewide building code or appliance standard,” Missouri Energy Initiative’s Campbell said. “Basically, that efficiency laws are not mandatory, they’re voluntary.”

Solar slump
Although Missouri’s growth percentage led the 12-state region, ranked by the total number of clean energy jobs, the state fell to No. 5 on the list after Illinois, Ohio, Michigan and Minnesota.

Jobs related to solar power fell by 60 percent to 2,328 in 2015, according to the study. Campbell said expiring solar energy rebates from utility providers in Kansas City and St. Louis – where nearly one-third of the state’s clean energy jobs are based – caused the slide.

Derek West, owner of Solar Energy Services LLC, said the story is different in the Springfield area, where rebates offered by Empire Electric District Co. arrived as those in other parts of the state expired. After one year of working solo, West added four employees last year primarily to handle increased business from Empire customers.

To combat an eventual crash when the rebates expire, West said he kept the number of new hires manageable and diversified the systems installed by Solar Energy Services.

Solar grids that run $8,000-$9,000 and generate too little power to qualify for rebates supplement his large-scale commercial jobs, usually in the $100,000 range, that involve large battery backups and are driven by rebates.

“I needed to figure out how to continue into the future where I wasn’t dependent on that for business,” West said, noting even with Empire’s rebate dropping from $1 per watt to 50 cents as of Jan. 1, customers have found other methods to make the installation expense viable.

“The federal tax credit is still important to people,” West said of the 30 percent Solar Investment Tax Credit. “If that goes away, that would hurt solar pretty bad.”

Potential for progress
West anticipates local solar business still could grow, particularly if utility rates increase.

“Southwest Missouri has been slow to get into the solar market – we are the Show-Me State,” West said. “I feel people see it as more mainstream now.”

Campbell thinks there’s room for improving job growth statewide, with energy efficiency continuing to be the main catalyst. Cheaper options such as retrofitting LED lights, he said, win out over the cost of building new power plants.

A few developments in southwest Missouri in recent years also could bode well for local jobs, Campbell said. In Joplin, EaglePicher Technologies LLC received a $22 million U.S. Department of Defense grant to build a microlithium ion battery manufacturing facility, while Toledo, Ohio-based Owens Corning is scheduled this year to open a $90 million plant manufacturing energy efficient roofing and insulation. As a transportation and manufacturing hub, Springfield also is well positioned to find growth in the clean energy supply chain.

“We’re the bottleneck between the folks that need alternative energy power and those that are developing it,” Campbell said of Missouri’s growth potential. “North to south, as you look at manufacturing jobs, storage and advanced grids, we’re right in the area to service both.”

At SS&B, Childers said growing business means keeping technicians up to date on quality installation procedures and newly developed technologies. To address that, he said the company spends about $6,500 annually for training and certification through global HVAC manufacturer Trane Inc.

“We do ongoing training, and it never stops,” Childers said. “You have to stay on top of this industry, because it’s constantly changing.”