Mass. struggles to turn green tech into green jobs

BOSTON (The Associated Press) - Nov 14 - By STEVE LeBLANC Associated Press Writer

 In June, lithium-ion battery maker Boston-Power Inc. unveiled
> plans
> for a new manufacturing plant in Auburn that it said would employ 600
> workers - a big gain in the state's drive for green jobs.
>
> Five months later, the Westborough-based company has scrapped its
> plans and is scoping out sites in China and other parts of Asia.
>
> The company said the planned 455,000-square-foot facility was
> always
> contingent on federal stimulus funds which never materialized - but
> the
> story is emblematic of a larger problem facing the state.
>
> Massachusetts has plenty of small research companies hoping to
> design
> the next big breakthrough in renewable energy. But when it comes to
> holding
> onto the manufacturing jobs that spin out of that research, the
> state is
> struggling.
>
> Marlborough-based Evergreen Solar Inc. has received $58 million
> in
> state aid and been hailed by Gov. Deval Patrick as a green jobs hero
> for its
> decision to bring hundreds of solar panel manufacturing jobs to
> Devens.
>
> But this month, the company announced it's moving some of those
> jobs
> to China next year, a move forced in part by the company's $167
> million loss
> this year.
>
> The state doesn't need to look halfway around the world for
> competitors.
>
> Michigan, struggling to rebound from declines in the auto
> industry,
> has aggressively courted Massachusetts firms.
>
> In August, Watertown-based A123Systems, which traces its roots
> back to
> the research labs of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
> announced
> plans to build a lithium ion battery manufacturing facility in
> Livonia,
> Michigan, using a $249 million grant from the U.S. Department of
> Energy.
>
> Another company making the trek to Michigan is Mascoma Corp.
>
> The company was based in Boston before moving its headquarters to
> Lebanon, N.H. earlier this year. It's planning to break ground on
> its first
> full-scale ethanol facility in Kinross Township, Michigan in 2010. The
> company received $26 million from the Department of Energy and the
> state of
> Michigan kicked in another $23.5 million.
>
> Mascoma Chairman Bruce Jamerson said there were many reasons
> for the
> move, including the availability of wood chips needed to produce the
> fuel.
> And while Massachusetts has market incentives to encourage green jobs,
> Michigan - in more dire economic straits - offered more aggressive
> financial
> incentives.
>
> "They need the jobs sooner," he said.
>
> Critics in Massachusetts say the state needs to do more to keep
> those
> coveted manufacturing jobs.
>
> "We have a long history of research and development, but our
> success
> of turning R&D into manufacturing jobs has been spotty," said Brian
> Gilmore,
> executive vice president of the Associated Industries of
> Massachusetts,
> which represents 7,000 employers.
>
> Gilmore said the state should ease the business tax burden and
> rein in
> unemployment insurance rates.
>
> State Environmental and Energy Secretary Ian Bowles said the
> experience at Evergreen Solar, A123Systems and the other companies
> only
> tells half the story. He said other green energy companies are
> growing and
> creating jobs in Massachusetts.
>
> Lilliputian, a Wilmington-based consumer electronics fuel cell
> company, expects to create 75 jobs in the next three years in
> Massachusetts
> and hundreds more over the next five, Bowles said. The solar
> technology
> company Konarka is expanding its manufacturing capabilities in a
> former
> Polaroid facility in New Bedford and hopes to hire over 100 workers
> over the
> next three years, he added.
>
> "I generally reject the story line that we aren't competing
> well,"
> Bowles said. "There's every reason to believe it's a good long-term
> bet."
>
> Bowles said even when a company exports manufacturing jobs, it
> can
> still be a net job boon in Massachusetts if the company adds
> administrative
> and research jobs at their headquarters.
>
> He also said critics shouldn't downplay Massachusetts' strength
> as a
> research hothouse. In a recent round of federal green energy research
> awards, Massachusetts received 22 percent of all funding - more than
> even
> California.
>