Solar shines new light on Rust Belt

Solar Saves Automotive Sector

Since the recession, the US solar market has suffered its biggest ever slump, but it has been in good company as America's automotive industry has also take a battering. But now, as traditional businesses start making way for the fledgling sectors, companies are adjusting to green industries as we start seeing the first sprouts of recovery.

Workers and machines that used to push out cars are now making parts for solar and wind power plants. The LA Times reports that at a recent solar energy conference in Anaheim, economic development officials from Ohio talked up a state that seemed far removed from the solar panels and high-tech devices that dominated the convention floor.

Ohio has long been known for its smokestack auto plans and metal-bending factories, but this is now the ideal environment for green technology companies.

Workers are more than happy to welcome green industries

"People don't traditionally think of Ohio when they think of solar," said Lisa Patt-McDaniel, director of Ohio's economic development agency. But in fact, the "Rust Belt goes well with the Green Belt," she said.

Much like in the way Texas has embraced wind power to work alongside its established oil sector, states in America's industrial heartland are taking in solar start-ups, wind turbine companies and electric car-makers from California and the Southwest that look to exploit its manufacturing power and hoards of skilled workers.

After the sheer collapse of their traditional employment spheres, these workers are more than happy to welcome the new green industries.

A huge advantage the renewable energy sector has is that for all its sharp-edges and shiny-surfaces, green technology is made of much much of the same stuff as automobiles - machine-stamped steel, glass and gearboxes.

But this is not to say that California is no longer a world leader in renewable energy initiatives.

Not just the environment that benefits from renewable energy

NRG Energy, through its wholly owned subsidiary NRG Solar LLC, has acquired the first and largest utility-scale photovoltaic (PV) solar project in California. The 21 megawatt (MW) Blythe Solar Project will be NRG's first solar generation facility in operation when it comes online later this year.

Located in Riverside County in southeastern California, approximately 200 miles east of Los Angeles, the solar PV field will provide electricity to Southern California Edison (SCE) under a 20-year power purchase agreement. At peak capacity, the site will be able to meet the needs of almost 17,000 homes.

"Successfully transitioning to a low-and no-carbon energy environment means using renewable resources that are located where the demand is," said David Crane, President and Chief Executive Officer of NRG Energy.

The US renewable energy industry has been a huge factor in dragging the US economy from the depths of recession, not just in creating new jobs but also in replacing jobs that were lost to the collapse of traditional markets. Its not just the environment that stands to benefits from renewable energy, the economy is also starting to look greener.

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