Salamon Group, Inc. (fka SLMU)

[The Rainmaker]

This part of your post was not accurate either....

you say
Solar companies are struggling and alot of failures along the way.

Truth Says..."At a time when many companies and whole sectors were slowing down, this report shows that the solar industries really came off the bench to deliver a slam dunk for our economy and our environment," said O'Hare.

Report shows boom in solar jobs

Monday, November 1, 2010
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Courtesy photo Workers install solar roof panels on a project recently.
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HAMPTON FALLS — Environment New Hampshire has released a new report from the Solar Foundation that shows hiring in the solar workforce is on the rise and more than half of solar employers nationally plan to increase their workforce in the next year.

Environment New Hampshire is a nonprofit solar education and research organization based in Hampton Falls. The report is a review of the solar workforce in the United States, titled, "National Solar Jobs Census 2010: A Review of the U.S. Solar Workforce."

"The sun generates more energy in an hour than all the coal mines and oil wells in the world do in a year. This report shows we are on the way to tapping the sun's potential, generating pollution-free energy and a tremendous number of good, green jobs along the way," said Jessica O'Hare, Program Associate of Environment New Hampshire. "Strong leadership from our state's elected officials and our leaders in Washington will be critical to turning this solar opportunity into a solar reality."

As of August, the National Solar Jobs Census 2010 identified more than 16,700 solar employment sites and 93,000 solar jobs in all 50 states. It also found that solar employers expect to increase the number of solar workers by 26 percent, representing nearly 24,000 net new jobs by August 2011.

This rate is significantly higher than both the expected 3 percent net job loss in fossil fuel power generation and the economy-wide expectation of 2 percent growth over the same period.

The survey examined employment along the solar value chain, including installation, wholesale trade, manufacturing, utilities and all other fields and includes growth rates and job numbers for 31 separate occupations. The report included data from more than 2,400 solar company survey respondents.

According to the study, more than half of all firms expect to increase their number of solar jobs in the coming year, while one-third plan to maintain staff levels and 2 percent anticipate reducing their staff, the report also found.

Because only 17 New Hampshire firms responded to the survey, the sample size is unreliable, though the numbers do indicate a significant increase ¿ approximately 20 percent ¿ in the state's solar jobs over the next year. Regionally, the majority of solar jobs are located in the West, followed by the Northeast, but the survey found solar jobs to exist in all 50 states.

A supplementary website to the survey, solarworksforamerica.com, lists 55 solar companies that are creating jobs in New Hampshire, including solar heavyweight like GT Solar as well as several smaller manufacturers, installers and distributors.

"As manager of ReVision Energy, I have seen us hire six new employees in Maine and New Hampshire and we are excited to continue hiring aggressively in NH as we open our new Brentwood facility this December. We started out seven years ago with three employees and have grown to a company of 35," said Dan Clapp.

The National Solar Jobs Census 2010 was conducted by The Solar Foundation and Green LMI Consulting with technical assistance from Cornell University.

Much of this growth in the solar industry was made possible by a federal policy called the Treasury Grant Program. The program, which allows solar companies to apply for cash grants in lieu of tax credits they would otherwise receive, was passed as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The incentive allows companies to continue to receive federal support for solar projects despite the rough economic climate, and is set to expire at the end of this year.

In addition to the federal program, New Hampshire's Renewable Energy Fund provided vital dollars to solar projects.

New Hampshire is ripe for job growth in the solar industry. State Rep. David Borden, member of the Energy Efficiency and Sustainable Energy Board, said that "if all the homes in the state which have south facing roofs (30 percent) had solar hot water or PV, over $2 billion would go into the economy providing over 28,000 full time jobs for a year."

"At a time when many companies and whole sectors were slowing down, this report shows that the solar industries really came off the bench to deliver a slam dunk for our economy and our environment," said O'Hare.

http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20101101/GJBUSINESS_01/711019991/-1/FOSBUSINESS