Texas Clean Energy Park

Case Study
Because of explosive growth in the renewable energy and green building sector, continued volatility in energy prices, and overwhelming business and natural resources assets, the State of Texas has a strong business case for developing the renewable energy industry to become a job-creation engine of the state’s economy. Texas has created markets for renewable energy companies with aggressive public policy goals for renewable energy generation, supported these markets with transparent and predictable regulations for installation and grid connection, and in less than ten years has moved from a state with virtually no developed renewable energy to a world leader in wind power production. With its highly-developed traditional energy industry and related high-tech clusters, significant renewable natural resources, and in its role as one of the largest drivers of economic growth in the U.S., the State of Texas has a natural competitive edge in the renewable energy industry. Yet growth in this industry has underperformed Texas’s assets. With the emerging nature of the renewable energy industry, there have been only the beginnings of a coordinated effort to support industrial development through economic development incentives, local market creation, and workforce development efforts.

Why This Study is Important
Because of these gaps between Texas’s resources and its efforts in economic development, workforce development and policy, Texas has room to significantly improve upon its already healthy renewable energy industry.  Economic development and workforce development policies work best with good information; this study tries to fill the gaps in information that would allow these groups to succeed in further building the support structures for renewable energy companies across the state. Ultimately, this study must drive collaboration between economic developers, policymakers, workforce developers, and universities and community colleges to address the challenges faced in building the renewable energy workforce of the state of Texas. This study is important because:

• This study has national implications because the renewable energy industry is an emerging industry across the country
• No study has as comprehensively captured the workforce requirements and assets of a single state in such depth and breadth across the entire renewable energy economy
• For Texas, it is critical to incorporate an understanding of the renewable energy industry, site selection factors, where companies are located today and where they fall within the value chain, specific occupational requirements for companies, existing assets, and where gaps in the workforce development system exist.

Click here to download the executive summary or here to download the full report.