A Massachusetts organization is stepping up its efforts to help Black-owned businesses tap into the influx of money expected to pour into the electric vehicle sector in coming years and become full participants in an industry that is likely to see significant growth. 

“There’s plenty of money. There’s nothing but money,” said Nicole Obi, president of the Black Economic Council of Massachusetts. “What we don’t have is time. All that money has an expiration date and we still aren’t getting the contracts and the capital.”

The council recently held its third EV Kickstarter event, highlighting opportunities for Black-owned companies to grow their business installing or servicing electric vehicle chargers, reselling equipment, and offering charging services. At the event, three small businesses also received $10,000 grants to bolster their growth in the electric vehicle space. 

“We want to really make sure that we are being mindful and intentional about getting Black people [and] Black businesses into the climate, sustainability, and resiliency space,” Obi said. “This is just one of many ways that we’re looking to do that.”

The Black Economic Council of Massachusetts was founded in 2015, in response to a study by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, released in March of that year, that found a vast wealth gap between Black and White households in the Boston area. While White households had an average net worth of $247,500, the average net worth of Black households was just $8, the report found. 

Faced with these starkly disparate numbers, a group of Black business leaders decided to get together to narrow the gap. 

“We’re really focused on change, particularly led by Black business owners,” Obi said.

Part of the group’s strategy to achieve these goals is helping Black-owned businesses get a foothold in growing markets, allowing them to participate in the economic successes of new industries. In the past, industry-specific booms in Massachusetts — such as biotech and cannabis — have not created many benefits for Black-owned businesses. Now, electric vehicles are a particularly promising space, and the council wants to make sure this latest boom doesn’t leave Black-owned businesses behind, Obi said.  

The market for electric vehicles — and the charging equipment needed to support them — is expected to grow enormously over the next decade, with significant help from federal and state policies and incentives. The federal Inflation Reduction Act, passed in 2022, made more new electric vehicle models eligible for a $7,500 tax credit, added a credit of up to $4,000 for the purchase of used electric vehicles, and created a credit for the installation of charging stations. 

In Massachusetts, a 2002 bill made new electric vehicles eligible for a rebate of $3,500 — up from $2,500 — with an additional $1,500 for low-income buyers in the works. The state also recently approved a plan by electric utilities to invest $400 million in charging infrastructure. 

At the same time, Massachusetts is already home to thousands of small, Black-owned businesses — from electricians and contractors to property managers and valet firms — that are well suited to take advantage of the opportunities presented by the electric vehicle market, Obi said.

To that end, her organization launched the EV Kickstarter program in 2021. The group looked for outside sponsorship but ended up funding the event and several small grants to support companies interested in expanding into the space. Participants were eager and engaged and networking with each other, Obi said. 

“That sealed it for me — it was worth every penny we spent to do these grants,” she said. 

The second event was held in September 2022, in association with the group’s annual Mass Black Expo. Shortly thereafter, the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center awarded the council a $50,000 grant to expand the programming beyond Boston, and in February, the third EV Kickstarter event was held in Worcester. 

At the event, Shonté Davidson, owner of workforce development and energy efficiency consultancy Impact Energy, outlined four major pathways into the electric vehicle space: reselling equipment, installing chargers, doing maintenance work on charging infrastructure, and offering charging as a service. And Obi urged participants to talk to each other and come together to make joint bids on larger projects, to amplify their presence in the industry while the federal money is still flowing. 

“I don’t know when we’re going to see a moment like this again,” Obi said. “I have a great sense of urgency about moving things along.”

The work the council is doing still faces significant entrenched obstacles. Perhaps most prominent among them is the lack of diversity in the energy space, which remains dominated by White men. Davidson is aware of no Black-owned energy service companies, and the utilities that administer the state’s energy efficiency programming are “overwhelmingly White,” she said. When employees leave to start their own businesses in the field, they often reinforce this demographic. 

“They continue to hire people who look like them,” Davidson said. “The network is just very insular.”

And once these companies establish contracts and relationships with larger customers, it can be more difficult for smaller companies — and most of the Black-owned businesses in these fields are small operations — to get their foot in the door. Edson Hilaire, owner of EH Electric in Waltham, has come up against this dynamic in his attempts to expand his residential electric vehicle charger installation business into commercial and institutional clients. 

“I’ve been struggling to get into that sector,” he said. 

Hilaire does have some optimism, however. Joining the Black Economic Council of Massachusetts helped him learn more about the process of finding and bidding on these larger jobs, he said. Now, he has had several meetings with a major local institution about taking on work there, though the contracts have not yet come through. 

“I am starting to notice there are some changes, even though it is like snail-moving pace,” he said. “It’s going to be slow, but I have hope.”

Massachusetts group seeks on-ramp to electric vehicle industry for Black-owned businesses is an article from Energy News Network, a nonprofit news service covering the clean energy transition. If you would like to support us please make a donation.

Want to watch Brian Czech cringe? Just repeat claims that unchecked economic growth is always compatible with conserving the environment.

The urge to explode that myth prompted the Virginian to create the Center for the Advancement of a Steady State Economy in 2003. CASSE, an Arlington County-based nonpartisan organization, is his effort to educate the public about the ecological advantages of setting national policy goals that stabilize population and consumption.

“Saying that all growth can be sustainable is the exact polar opposite of what we need,” Czech said. “It’s just win-win rhetoric that you can have your cake and eat it, too.”

As CASSE’s president, the 62-year-old wants Americans to comprehend how worship of a burgeoning economy, and particularly the gross domestic product, harms progress on not only environmental protection, but also national security, economic sustainability and international stability.

“GDP growth was once a wonderful thing, but now other measures need to be prioritized,” he said. “If you don’t protect the environment, you’re not going to have an economy worth a hoot.”

Czech is aware that such an eco-transformation won’t happen just because his five-person nonprofit is adamant about it.

“A rightly sized steady-state economy has to be done intentionally,” the Wisconsin native said. “In reality it has to be done at the congressional level. Having public policy and consumers on board is crucial.”

With his on-the-ground experience and 1997 doctorate in renewable natural resources studies from the University of Arizona, Czech has the chops to back up the holistic vision that CASSE advocates. He worked as a wildlife biologist before accepting his dream job as a conservation biologist focused on national policy with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 1999.

In this interview with the Energy News Network, Czech explained the principles of a steady-state economy and what has motivated him to stick with this platform for two decades. This piece was lightly edited for clarity and length. 

Q: First, you have an impressive professional background. Why did you create CASSE while still working with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service?

A: As a field biologist for years, I decided I really wanted to make a difference with conservation on a national level. My job at Fish and Wildlife focused on the conflict between economic growth and wildlife conservation, which was the topic of my Ph.D. thesis. 

In 1999, I was leading a team creating a policy on ecological integrity. It was a long-term project. Then, in 2001, I started receiving a series of gag orders. I thought, man, what’s this? 

Eventually, I came to the conclusion that I had to find a way to speak out. I created CASSE because it let me find my voice. It’s where I could provide information about limits to growth and the fundamental conflict between economic growth and environmental protection.

Q: But you didn’t leave Fish and Wildlife until 2017. How did you balance CASSE and your main job?

A: I made some strategic moves. In addition to CASSE, I also signed on as a visiting professor at Virginia Tech’s Northern Virginia Center. That way, I had three different hats. I could wear the one appropriate for the venue. 

I couldn’t speak or write on these topics as a Fish and Wildlife employee, but I could as a CASSE representative or a Virginia Tech visiting professor. I would take leave from my federal job to put on the CASSE hat or visiting professor hat.

Q: A steady-state economy is designed not to grow. Isn’t that counter to what conventional economists cite as evidence of success?

A: Most people, from a common sense perspective, understand that population growth and increased production and per capita consumption can’t go on forever.

Conventional economists practice neoclassical economics. Mainly, they’re criticized for a total failure to acknowledge the limits of growth. For instance, only capital and labor are discussed as production functions. What happened to including land? They are taught to not even consider land.

Q: This concept places a high value on ecological limits. Did the idea of a steady-state economy originate in the scientific realm? 

A: It originated in science and economics. The term steady-state economy is attributed to Herman Daly, an American economist and scientist who drew on physics to talk about limits in books and papers in the 1960s. 

He was elaborating on the stationary state economy, which philosopher John Stuart Mill wrote about in the 1840s. Of course, Mill was focused on England and problems such as overcrowding, pollution and disease.

Mill was credited with being the first author to promote a stationary state, which Adam Smith had referenced in the 1700s.

One of the more recent books that delved into this topic is “Limits to Growth,” published in 1972. And, interestingly, author and naturalist Aldo Leopold referenced the concept in the preface of his conservation classic, “A Sand County Almanac,” published posthumously in1949.

If he hadn’t died in 1948, I imagine he would have been a leader in ecological macroeconomics.

Q: Can a steady-state economy speed up the U.S. transition to wind, solar and other renewable energy? If so, how? 

A: It absolutely does. Our U.S. economy is at about $20 trillion now. Let’s say we set a goal of a $30 trillion U.S. economy. We would need all kinds of power, from both renewable energy and fossil fuels, to maintain that.

On the other hand, if we instead say, let’s revert back to a $10 trillion economy, then we have a fighting chance of running that economy off renewables with not nearly as much fossil fuel in the mix.

Committing to a steady-state economy has to be a conscious decision. There’s a huge gap between the steady state and what we would call a failed-state economy.

Q: Can a steady-state economy slow emissions of heat-trapping gases? How or how not?

A: It’s the level of the steady state that’s so important. We’re already beyond long-term capacity, so we started calling an increase in GDP economic bloating instead of economic growth.

An obsession with GDP means greenhouse gas emissions are only going to increase. It’s difficult, if not impossible, to build enough renewable energy in a scenario of even higher GDP partly because aligning infrastructure and transmission needs is so hard.

At CASSE, we are talking about degrowth before we can get back to a sustainable steady-state economy. And one of our policy positions is a cap on fossil fuel extraction and combustion.

Q: Have other countries achieved steady-state economies?

A: As far as we know, no country has formally adopted this goal. But New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced that the government’s fiscal policy goals would be geared toward the well-being of New Zealanders and not the GDP. We would call that steady statesmanship.

The more famous case is Bhutan and its gross national happiness, with the king saying that it mattered more than GDP.

Q: Even if the U.S. Congress doesn’t buy into a steady-state economy, can individuals or local governments take concrete action? 

A: Yes. My one-word answer is “less,” as in buy less stuff. CASSE wants people to start realizing that every time they go to a store, they have an influence on GDP and the macroeconomic flow of money.

If you do buy, don’t purchase over-the-top items. For instance, think of all the extraction that had to happen to build out a Hummer, with all its bells and whistles, as opposed to a bicycle with its smaller ecological footprint.

Just like anti-smoking campaigns, we have to make conspicuous consumption unacceptable. A bloated economy chokes out the future for our kids and grandkids.

Q: The late Democratic Sen. Robert Kennedy said in the 1960s that the gross domestic product “measures everything except that which is worthwhile.” Does a steady-state economy call for replacing the GDP?

A: No. What we need to do is to treat the GDP [differently]. … That means bringing in metrics such as the genuine progress indicator and the human development index. Using different tools to measure how social and environmental stressors are being handled gives insights about finding an optimal GDP level.

Identifying that optimal GDP is the greatest challenge for democracy in the 21st century. But it needs to take into account the benefits of clean water, clean air, a stable climate and open land. That’s why steady statesmanship is a potential political unifier. It’s not a right or left thing.

Q: Is it risky for the U.S. to aim for a steady state if other countries don’t? Wouldn’t that mean falling behind?

A: I would think that falling behind in a race to unsustainability is a good idea. The ecological footprint of the United States ought to be considered some sort of crime.

Q: To get into the weeds, you mentioned The Employment Act of 1946 as a barrier to a steady-state economy. Congress evidently amended that act in the 1978 Full Employment and Balanced Growth Act. Briefly, what tweaks are needed? 

A: The original bill wasn’t a huge barrier, but the amendment is. It’s like central planning in how it sets the goal of economic growth for the U.S. government. Fiscal and monetary policy and agency missions and programs are all designed to contribute to growth.

First, the name should be changed to the Full and Sustainable Employment Act. It needs a major overhaul and CASSE has a proposal for that.

Q: It seems the switch to a steady-state economy would be incremental. If you had a magic wand, what three changes would top your wish list?

A: One would be a president who gets the limits to growth and fundamentally understands the conflict between economic growth and environmental protection, national security, economic sustainability and international stability would make a massive difference.

Two, let’s go to the tax code and get rid of subsidies for luxury items like SUVs. That is low-hanging fruit.

Three is replacing the principles of neoclassical economics with those of steady-state economics in university curricula and among government civil service positions and political appointees.

Q: Anything else? 

A: Yes, connected to the previous question. Environmental journalists need to provide context in their articles. All of the issues they cover — from pollution to the loss of land to development — stem from the broader issue of the race for a more robust GDP.

Q&A: Virginia conservationist on the ‘fundamental conflict’ between climate and consumerism is an article from Energy News Network, a nonprofit news service covering the clean energy transition. If you would like to support us please make a donation.

Normal, Illinois, aspired to be part of the electric vehicle revolution long before Rivian came to town. 

In 2011, Normal dubbed itself “EVTown” in a marketing effort to make the city an early destination for Mitsubishi’s all-electric i-MiEV subcompact. Located 130 miles southwest of Chicago, Normal was home to the automaker’s only North American plant. And while the company never built the i-MiEV in the U.S., it agreed to reserve 1,000 cars for customers in the city.

However, despite boasting 3,000 jobs at one point, the Mitsubishi plant closed its doors for good just four years later. And the diminutive, egg-shaped i-MiEV was a flop, selling just over 2,100 units in the U.S. before being discontinued in 2017.  

The plant was slated for demolition after being sold to a liquidator. But those plans were scrapped when electric truck and van maker Rivian opted not only to purchase the entire 2.6-million-square-foot plant, but also to add another 1 million square feet to its footprint. 

The plant presently employs 5,200 workers, according to Normal Mayor Chris Koos, and the company expects to produce 25,000 vehicles at the facility this year.

“When they first started, [Rivian said] their maximum hire would be about 1,100 people. And they didn’t feel that they were ever going to need that kind of square footage. And so, their initial plan was that they would treat it like an industrial park and they’d use the largest part of it. … But as they got into it, and then Amazon got involved and they raised all this money, they realized that they could do a lot more,” Koos said.

Along with the availability of an intact manufacturing plant, Rivian and its founder, RJ Scaringe, were attracted to the overall culture of the town, according to City Manager Pamela Reece.

“I think what Rivian demonstrates in terms of their culture, their purpose really fits in with the town of Normal’s culture and vision,” she said, noting the city’s comprehensive plan that includes goals for health, sustainability and community wellness. 

“The things that we are trying to achieve and shoot for over the next 20 years, I think are closely mirrored by Rivian’s purpose and the things that they’re trying to do. They’re just doing it on a much more global scale in terms of creating transportation systems that can support some of what we try to do here locally in terms of sustainable initiatives. So, I think there’s a real synergy there,” Reece said.

Community involvement

Rivian has integrated itself into the fabric of the town as a corporate citizen, which was demonstrated during the height of the pandemic. The company opted to forego a $1 million grant to which it was entitled, allowing the funds to be directed toward items in the town’s budget that were scheduled to be axed due to the impact of COVID-19, Reece said. 

“There was one additional significant incentive that we put into the agreement [with Rivian]. Basically, we said that upon reaching an investment milestone of $20 million in plant improvements, the town of Normal would grant them $1 million. Rivian met that threshold during the pandemic. So, the first year of the pandemic in 2020, we adopted a budget that showed a $1 million payment to Rivian because they were eligible. They’d invested well more than $20 million in the plant. So, it was on us.

“I believe it was in June of 2020 Rivian wrote us a letter and said, ‘We would like to decline the grant.’ And so, the town of Normal was able to retain that million dollars in our budget during our COVID year,” Reece said. 

Rivian is also working in collaboration with Heartland Community College, located in Normal, in administering its Electric Vehicle Technology Associate in Applied Science degree program. The program, which was launched in 2021 and presently has approximately 30 students enrolled, has recently completed the approval process for all of its degree and certificate programs, according to college president Keith Cornille. Rivian uses the school’s facilities for training while lending out its equipment. A Rivian employee also acts as an instructor working alongside faculty members in the program, Cornille said.

Technical educational opportunities have extended beyond the community college. Illinois State University, also located in Normal, won approval from the Illinois State University Board of Trustees in May for a new College of Engineering, which will open its doors in 2025.

“I think that [Illinois State University is] also seeing the opportunity on the horizon, not only with Rivian, but with the growth in that kind of sector to be able to provide future engineers to support that,” Reece said.

Worldwide attention on Rivian has resulted in inquiries from potential investors in various industry sectors for possible relocation to Normal, Reece said.

“Because we’ve been in the spotlight at such a national and international level, it’s really drawn attention to our community — not just Normal, but Bloomington and McLean County as well. And I think we’re trying to demonstrate that if Rivian can choose central Illinois and be successful, then it might be the right spot for other businesses as well,” Reece said.

The Illinois advantage

While much high-tech and electric vehicle development is taking place on the West Coast and in the South, Illinois has quietly begun to establish itself as an electric transportation hub, even beyond Normal. Along with the Rivian plant, Lion Electric has built a manufacturing plant for its electric buses in Joliet, which is located about 30 miles outside of Chicago. Argonne National Laboratory, located in suburban Lemont, Illinois, is actively conducting research in batteries and fuel cells. 

One possible factor working in Illinois’ favor is the atmosphere of receptiveness in the state, in contrast with resistance and other hurdles that Rivian and other companies have sometimes faced in different locations.

“They’re [Rivian] trying to build a plant in Georgia. And [the company received] a huge incentive from the Georgia state government. But in the area where they want to build the plant, the residents don’t want it. There’s a group that doesn’t want it. And they’re very vocal,” Koos said. 

“Illinois struggles in terms of the incentive packages that [the state] can offer compared to the Georgias and the Texases, the Californias and Arizonas. But we tell people, yeah, we don’t have as much incentive, but we can get the project done.”

A decade after ‘EVTown,’ Rivian is making an Illinois city’s electric vehicle vision a reality is an article from Energy News Network, a nonprofit news service covering the clean energy transition. If you would like to support us please make a donation.

Elizabeth City, North Carolina, once sought to lure boaters up the Pasquotank River with free docking at its marina and welcome baskets of wine, cheese and roses.

Today, the “harbor of hospitality” is preparing a new pitch, trying to attract offshore wind manufacturers with the region’s workforce and manufacturing capacity.

“Northeastern North Carolina is a special place,” commerce secretary Machelle Sanders said at a recent summit hosted by the historically Black Elizabeth City State University. “Just as North Carolina has provided a runway for the Wright Brothers to take flight, the region is helping to develop clean energy.”

With two offshore wind farms underway off the Outer Banks and a major turbine blade facility announced just across the state border, the potential in this largely impoverished region is vast. But experts and advocates stress that extreme poverty and economic disparity won’t be erased without effort.

“We have to be strategic about it, to make sure that the communities that really, really need this are benefiting from it,” said Montravias King, an Elizabeth City State graduate and former city councilor. “And if we don’t, it’s not going to happen.”

‘It’s a different world’

Regional pride ran high at the conference, with Sanders, a native of tiny Belhaven on the Pungo River, delivering the keynote address. Citing the area’s ties to the Coast Guard and its tourism industry, she declared, “we do have assets in this great part of the state.”

But in many ways, northeastern North Carolina is a tale of two banks. On the Atlantic Ocean, there’s the overwhelmingly White Outer Banks, once a string of modest fishing villages that today is a multibillion-dollar tourist attraction. Dare and Currituck, the two counties that encompass most of these barrier islands, are some of the state’s wealthiest by income and property value. In the last decade, Currituck’s population grew by 19%, not far behind the Triangle and Charlotte.

Then there are the roughly 20 counties of the mainland, sometimes dubbed the “Inner Banks” by tourism promoters. With few exceptions, these communities have a higher portion of Black people than the state overall. In Bertie County, where the Chowan River empties into the Albemarle Sound, nearly two-thirds of the population is Black, the highest fraction in the state.

People of color were systematically shut out of the region’s economic opportunities for centuries, and in recent decades, textile manufacturing jobs were lost to the North American Free Trade Agreement. Today, populations here are shrinking at the fastest rates in the state, and the economic indicators rank these counties among the poorest. Property values in Dare are four and a half times that of Pasquotank County, home to Elizabeth City. 

Many feel little connection to the Outer Banks, said King, who now directs clean energy campaigns for the North Carolina League of Conservation Voters in Raleigh. “It’s a different world out there.”

‘It’s going to add to what we’re already doing’ 

In her address, Sanders acknowledged these inland counties — and other rural areas of the state — had often been left behind economically, a dynamic she knows well. “I know very well what it’s like to be excluded,” she said, “because I’m Black. I’m a woman, and because I’m from Belhaven.”

But she and others at the conference said the entire region could benefit from offshore wind. In March, a report commissioned by her department found the industry was poised to invest $140 billion up and down the East Coast — manufacturing specialized wind turbine components, shipping and assembling them at sea. “We do deserve our fair share of that,” she said. “We are looking forward to that blossoming economy.”

Already, there’s economic activity underway in northeastern North Carolina because of two major offshore wind projects. Twenty-seven miles east of Virginia Beach, a Dominion Energy project is scheduled to begin delivering power in 2026. With a capacity of 2.6 gigawatts, the wind farm could create enough power for nearly 700,000 homes. 

Avangrid Renewables plans a similarly sized project off the North Carolina coast, Kitty Hawk Offshore, slated for completion in 2030. (Larry Lombardi, the economic development director for Currituck County, says the wind farm is actually closer to his town, despite the name. “I have to clarify so people understand,” he told the Energy News Network, “it’s 27 miles off the coast of Corolla.”)

Power from both projects will come onshore to Virginia, and they’ll be built and staged in that state’s Tidewater region. Together, they’re expected to create upwards of 1,700 construction-related jobs annually. Once the wind farms are up and running, they’ll spur another 2,000 jobs for technicians, vessel managers, and other operations and maintenance workers.

Most of these jobs will be in Virginia, but within reach of Tar Heels across the border, many of whom already commute north for work. In Gates County, more than half of the employed work out of state, according to commerce officials.

Situated carefully beyond the coastal horizon, the Kitty Hawk wind turbines aren’t expected to be visible to beachgoers. But even if they were, Lombardi and others believe they could be a boost, not a bane to tourism. 

“We know from the offshore wind in Europe,” he said, “they have tourism boats going out there. They have fishing boats going out there. It’s just going to add to what we’re already doing.”

‘The opportunity for job creation is huge’ 

These two wind farms could be just the tip of the iceberg. According to the March report, 41 gigawatts of offshore wind could be installed up and down the Eastern seaboard by 2035. Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat in his second term, wants a fifth of that to be off North Carolina’s coast.

With today’s technology — in which one turbine has about 6 megawatts of power capacity — those figures translate to more than 1,000 turbines off the state’s coast alone, with another 5,500 or so off the rest of the East Coast.

The structures require specialized parts, like towers 30 stories high, blades the length of football fields, and nacelles that would dwarf most office buildings. Today, all these components are made in Europe — creating an unprecedented opening for suppliers in North Carolina.

“There’s nothing else like this where you have a multibillion-dollar global industry that has zero footprint in the United States,” said Steve Kalland, the director of the North Carolina Clean Energy Technology Center and contributor to the March study. “It’s wild.”

Even when the ocean-based turbines reach the end of their useful lives, they’re likely to be refitted with the latest technology and reused. Manufacturers will need a steady workforce for decades to come. “It’s a multigenerational opportunity,” said Kalland. “We’re not just going to build wind turbines for five years and then everybody’s unemployed.”

Though the Northeast states are ahead of the Southeast ones when it comes to establishing a market for offshore wind — requiring some 20 gigawatts of the resource by 2035 — there’s still ample chance for North Carolina and its neighbors to play a leading role in the supply chain.

That’s part of why Cooper joined the governors of Maryland and Virginia last year in an agreement to work cooperatively to boost the region’s participation in the offshore wind supply chain — including through workforce training, enhancing deepwater ports, and upfitting and expanding factories. 

It’s already paying off. Last month, Siemens Gamesa announced it would build the country’s first offshore wind turbine blade facility in Portsmouth, Virginia, creating an estimated 300 direct jobs.

The factory is expected to supply the entire East Coast, but another major blade maker in North Carolina is not out of the question, Kalland said. And there’s still potential for other major factories to produce towers, foundations, undersea cables, nacelles and more.

“All of these things are going to have to get sourced out here in some way, shape or form,” he said. “We really think that the opportunity for job creation — as you work your way through the parts and pieces — is huge.” 

That’s especially true because North Carolina’s manufacturing sector is already the largest of the East Coast states, and many companies here already produce onshore wind turbine components. More than 40 have already expressed interest in participating in the offshore wind supply chain. 

At Wilmington, Morehead City, and Southport, the state also has opportunities to enhance its ports to assemble and ship large offshore wind components. Radio Island, between Morehead City and Beaufort, is considered the best near-term option. 

Jeff Andreini, the vice president of new energy for Crowley Marine Services, glowed about the site at the Elizabeth City State conference. “Radio Island is a tremendous opportunity,” he said. “It’s a direct shot out to the Atlantic Ocean.”

Andreini, whose company has a network of barges that can deliver offshore wind components to the point of construction, isn’t the only one excited about the spot, said Jaime Simmons, program manager for the Southeastern Wind Coalition. “The county commission and the economic development office are thrilled about it,” she told the Energy News Network.

And though North Carolina is a so-called right-to-work state, which allows workers to be represented by unions without having to pay dues, the state AFL-CIO is still hopeful that offshore wind could help inject more union jobs into the state’s economy. “It’s so early and it’s so new,” said Aiden Graham, campaign manager for the group, “that nothing is set in stone.”

‘We’re ideally situated’ 

To be sure, not all of these supply chain opportunities are in the state’s northeast corner, and it’s not the only area struggling economically. But experts and locals point to evidence that the region could get a significant boost from the industry.

First, there’s the spillover effect from Virginia. “There is a significant workforce opportunity, even if a lot of this manufacturing and construction work happens in the Hampton Roads area,” Kalland said. “There’s not enough specialized people in Hampton Roads — they’re going to be drawing people from all over the place, and northeastern North Carolina is clearly one of those places.”

Second, there’s the presence of “anchor companies,” which provide direct jobs in manufacturing major components and open the door to industries further down the supply chain. Of the five existing potential anchor companies listed in the March report, three have a major presence in northeastern North Carolina.

One is Avangrid, which also operates the state’s only land-based wind farm, just outside of Elizabeth City. Based in Virginia Beach, Ashley McLeod directs stakeholder engagement for the company’s Kitty Hawk project. At the conference, she stressed its expected boon: a $2 billion economic impact.

At the same time, the former school board member sought to assure the audience her company would protect the natural environment during siting and construction. “We’re making sure we’re doing it in the most responsible way,” she said.

Another potential anchor in the area is L.S. Cables, a New Jersey company with a facility in Tarboro, just east of Rocky Mount in Edgecombe County, the most economically distressed in the state.  

The company already supplies onshore wind and solar projects in the United States, according to the March report, and the Tarboro factory could, “possibly with some modifications, play a key role to support the ocean cable needs” of offshore wind.

Perhaps most promising is Nucor Steel, the largest U.S. steel producer in the country, with headquarters in Charlotte and a sizable facility in Hertford County.  

“They very much want to be part of constructing the towers,” said Amy Braswell, the economic development director of Ahoskie, the county’s largest town, population 4,659. The interest is already having a ripple effect. “We’re contacted by people who want to be in proximity to Nucor,” she said, “to work with them.”

The county’s economy could undoubtedly use more than a ripple. The 10th most economically distressed in the state, it has a median household income of $38,000 and an unemployment rate of over 6%.

“I think it’s going to be a boon for eastern North Carolina and eastern Virginia,” said Braswell of the offshore wind industry. “It’s going to be a boon for the citizens who are going to get really good jobs.”

The area’s numerous rivers and sounds could serve to transport large components by barge up to Virginia ports and down to North Carolina ones. The area also has a network of railroads and highways that ease transport.

“We are not as susceptible to storm damages and things that you have to worry about closer to the coast — yet we are an hour from anything,” Braswell said. “We think we’re ideally situated for it.”

‘Not a foregone conclusion’

Still, these economic opportunities could be limited if North Carolina misses its offshore wind targets set by Cooper — not an impossibility.

While the federal government is moving forward on a lease area 17 miles off the state’s southernmost shores, it will have to overcome opposition from over half a dozen local governments who oppose any turbines beachgoers might glimpse from the sand. 

At the same time, a Trump-era ban on offshore wind, set to take effect next July, must be lifted by Congress for any other wind energy areas off North Carolina’s coast to come to fruition. The Build Back Better bill contains language that would do just that, but its fate is still uncertain.

Fulfilling Cooper’s targets will almost certainly require additional state-level legislation, said Simmons. Even with a new law requiring a 70% reduction in Duke Energy power plant pollution by 2030, the state probably needs specific mandates for offshore wind to draw development off its coast and supply chain jobs with it. 

“This is such a new industry that we’re bound to get part of it,” she said, “but it will require a designated effort for North Carolina to capture what we know is economically possible.”

While the AFL-CIO is optimistic about the possibilities for union jobs, those odds increase if federal or state policymakers tie green energy incentives to the opportunity to be in a union.

“We can remake the economy to benefit working people and the planet and to grow the labor movement,” Graham said, “but it’s not a foregone conclusion.”

The degree to which northeastern North Carolina benefits economically from offshore wind will also depend on how well prepared residents are to work in the industry. That’s why boosters say training programs at community colleges and at historically Black universities such as Elizabeth City State are critical.

“Education is important,” King said. “Don’t bring in people from outside — we want to see those dollars flow in our communities.”

The Cooper administration has already dipped its toes into these waters, working with Halifax County schools to create a pilot program for 20 high school students to work in solar and wind energy and earn course credit toward a bachelor’s degree. 

“The Governor’s Office and other partners are working to expand this program to include additional school systems, companies and industries — including offshore wind,” spokesperson Jordan Monaghan told the Energy News Network in an email.

King, who with Simmons and other clean energy groups is part of a new coalition to promote offshore wind, remains cautiously optimistic. 

“We’re on the cusp of a clean energy revolution,” he said. “We have the opportunity to produce some real, high-earning jobs for people, that can change people’s lives. But it doesn’t happen overnight — you have to prepare people for it.”

In need of jobs, northeastern North Carolina sees promise in offshore wind is an article from Energy News Network, a nonprofit news service covering the clean energy transition. If you would like to support us please make a donation.

The following commentary was written by Laura Sherman, president of the Michigan Energy Innovation Business Council, a trade organization of more than 120 advanced energy companies focused on improving the policy landscape for the advanced energy industry in Michigan. See our commentary guidelines for more information.

One of the most important proposals to accelerate Michigan’s standing in advanced mobility technology came this week. A coalition of 27 organizations (including the Michigan Energy Innovation Business Council) that work in alternative fuel and electric vehicle (EV) drivetrain manufacturing, EV charging stations, environmental and health advocacy, electricity transmission and more called upon Gov. Whitmer and other Michigan lawmakers to use $600 million in federal funds to invest in fleets of electric and alternative fuels vehicles and related infrastructure.

The full proposal from the MI Clean Future coalition laid out the urgency: “If Michigan is going to continue to compete on a global stage, we need to make substantial investments in our automotive and mobility workforce, prepare our infrastructure to meet 21st-century mobility demands, and headway on replacing the most polluting vehicles on the road.” The proposal then mentions Ford’s recent decision to build new EV supply chain plants in Tennessee and Kentucky, but not Michigan due to a lack of shovel-ready sites.

Ford’s move is just one setback in the context of a longer-term trend of growth in innovative, well-paying jobs. Michigan is transitioning to this new economy of advanced energy—which includes design, manufacturing and project development of low-carbon technologies like EVs but also wind turbines, solar panels, energy efficiency retrofits, batteries, energy management software and more—with overwhelmingly positive results.

But to keep the results coming, we also need to seize upon proposals like the $600 million investment described above. Michigan should respond to setbacks by using opportunities—like the funds from pending federal infrastructure and clean energy legislation—to build on the conditions that allowed the advanced energy industry to blossom here in the first place.

Michigan ranks second in the nation, behind only California, for the number of jobs in the “clean vehicle” sector, including EV, hybrid and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, as tracked by E2’s Clean Jobs Midwest report, based on Bureau of Labor Statistics data. But it is more than just automotive industry jobs. Michigan also ranks 6th among the 50 states, ahead of more populous states like Ohio and Pennsylvania, for the number of jobs in clean energy.

Michigan had 125,000 of these clean energy jobs pre-pandemic, a 41% increase from 2015, meaning clean energy jobs were growing significantly faster than the rest of the state’s economy. Like most industries, clean energy employment took a hit during the pandemic, but it also has bounced back better than most—jobs related to designing, manufacturing and serving the supply chain of EVs in Michigan actually grew 3% overall last year despite the recession, according to E2’s report. Clean energy jobs also pay wages well above the national median.

Summing up exactly what these jobs are is tough because they are so integrated throughout all parts of the state. Wind and solar project developers are working in every county in the state, for example. Companies working to create a new energy future in the state cover a wide range: There are manufacturers of wind turbine towers that stand nearly 300 feet tall. Others design phone apps that allow users to remotely control lights and appliances at their homes to maximize efficiency and energy bill savings. Others are developers of devices that allow EVs to quickly charge up.

The reasons that these companies choose Michigan are as diverse as the companies themselves, but many reasons trace back to the infrastructure we have here: both physical infrastructure like industrial spaces, and more intangible infrastructure like a network of the best engineering talent in the country, driven in large part by Michigan’s top-tier universities.

One of the best ways, therefore, to keep growing these industries and not lose out on jobs to other states is to invest more in the state’s infrastructure, as well as infrastructure specifically tailored to advanced energy. That means building out an EV charging network, launching research programs at universities that plant the seeds for clean tech startups, expanding workforce training and modernizing our electric grid to reduce the frequency of power outages, to name a few examples.

Michigan is well on its way toward a future with a strong advanced energy economy, but infrastructure needs to grow along with that economy to sustain it. The pending infrastructure and clean energy legislation in Washington can make Michigan companies and Michiganders better positioned to seize the possibilities and promises of this future.

Commentary: To sustain Michigan’s advanced energy economy, invest in clean mobility is an article from Energy News Network, a nonprofit news service covering the clean energy transition. If you would like to support us please make a donation.