Energizing Development San Antonio and Its Municipal Utility Join Forces to Establish a Clean Technology Cluster
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TEXAS Energizing Development San Antonio and its municipal utility join forces to establish a clean technology cluster. ob growth drives San Antonio’s by ROBERT CROWE The four companies are Consert push for renewable energy — [email protected] Inc., a provider of energy-management cleaner air is a benefi cial byprod- and conservation solutions, which is uct. Since two recent mayors relocating its headquarters to San An- Jhave embraced this approach, convinced four cleantech companies to tonio from Raleigh, N.C.; GreenStar, a the country’s seventh-largest city has relocate to San Antonio in June, while supplier of advanced lighting products, developed a unique business ecosphere. a fi fth company, SunEdison, will open which is also relocating its headquar- Political leaders hope early gains will a local offi ce to support a 30-megawatt ters to San Antonio; Cold Car USA, a make San Antonio a leader in the “New solar project. Each company is expected manufacturer of refrigerated truck bod- Energy Economy.” to bring jobs and contribute fi nancially ies; and Summit Power Group LLC, Using the purchasing power of CPS to education programs and research in a developer of carbon-capture power Energy — among the largest mu- exchange for long-term business deals projects. nicipally owned utilities — the city with the utility and city. “It’s more than work-force train- The Blue Wing Solar Project, in southeast San Antonio, uses 214,500 solar PV panels to produce clean energy for customers of CPS Energy, by virtue of a power purchase agreement with Duke Energy, the project’s owner. Juwi Solar Inc., Boulder, Colo., designed and built the project. All photos courtesy of CPS Energy unless otherwise noted 778 SEPTEMBER 2011 SITE SELECTION 1109Texas.indd 778 8/23/11 5:29 PM ing or identifying goals for greening the economy,” says Deb Perry of the Vermont-based Institute for Sustainable Communities, which uses San Anto- nio as an economic development case study. “They are thinking how to create demand for energy services and how to supply it.” Mayor Julián Castro expects to create 230 green jobs by the middle of next year and up to 1,000 by 2015. He hopes investment in research, development and education will sustain gains through the Mission Verde Center, a multipur- pose sustainability campus. “We have the opportunity to reel in research and development jobs, which has been a missing component from San Antonio,” Castro says. Phil Hardberger, Castro’s predeces- sor, was the fi rst mayor to get the city on board with a bold approach to clean technology. “When we looked out into the 21st century, it seemed pretty evident there Renewable Energy Projects by CPS would be a dramatic shift in the kind of This map shows about 916 MW of renewables, which will eventually increase to energy used,” says Larry Zinn, Hard- about 1,516 over two to fi ve years with 200 MW more wind through a power purchase berger’s former chief of staff who now agreement with Duke Energy’s Los Vientos Windpower Project South of Corpus Christi. heads cleantech project development The project will add up to 400 MW at sites throughout the San Antonio area. fi rm Tejas Verde Group. 780 SEPTEMBER 2011 SITE SELECTION Write in #275 for free info. 1109Texas.indd 780 8/23/11 5:30 PM Rankings Concur: Texas’ Business Case Is Compelling ov. Rick Perry has no shortage of accolades concerning political opponents and detractors will no doubt challenge his GTexas’ business climate to tout as he makes a run for the job-creation credentials in the months ahead. But it’s hard to Republican presidential nomination in 2012. Texas won Site argue with data. Selection’s 2010 Governor’s Cup for winning the most new Forbes’ rankings make a compelling case for Texas’ metros private-sector capital projects that year — Gov. Perry also re- as business locations, because they indicate where job ceived the 2004 and 2005 Governor’s Cups earlier in his tenure growth has actually taken place — not where it might take as governor. A survey of CEOs by Chief Executive Magazine place in the future. In that sense, they are like Site Selec- has ranked Texas as the top state for business for the seventh tion’s rankings, which are based on actual new and expanding year in a row. project announcements — not prognostications about where Also this year, Forbes named its Best Cities for Jobs based they are likely to materialize in the future. For more on Texas’ on job growth in 333 metropolitan statistical areas and their 2010 Governor’s Cup win and the methodology behind it, visit performance since 1996, ranking the top 10 in three catego- the March 2011 issue at siteselection.com. ries — big, mid-sized and small cities. Like Site Selection’s In the meantime, here’s a recap of Forbes’ take on the Best Governor’s Cup and its other rankings, Forbes’ analysis is Cities for Jobs this year. data driven. Site Selection uses its New Plant Database as In the Big Cities category, Texas metros took all of the top the basis for the Governor’s Cup, and Forbes uses employ- fi v e s l o t s , and it fared pretty well in the mid-sized and small ment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The governor’s categories too (visit Forbes.com for the full analysis). Seeking Solar Manufacturing Castro says the project can bring more site its North American manufacturing The center of the city’s New En- than 500 jobs. facility in Napoleon, Ohio, to supply a ergy Economy initiative is an effort to Iterations of this model have been 49.9-megawatt solar farm, scheduled to anchor a world-class solar company, or discussed across the country, but few begin construction next year. multiple companies, with facilities that cities or utilities have been able to pull it will assemble or manufacture photo- off, says Shyam Mheta, a senior analyst Anchoring and Nurturing voltaic (PV) panels to supply up to 400 at GTM Research. AEP Ohio, a division San Antonio hopes to differentiate megawatts of power through a long- of private utility American Electric itself with investments in R&D and term power purchase agreement (PPA). Power, convinced Spain’s Isofoton to attracting venture capital for startups, 782 SEPTEMBER 2011 SITE SELECTION Write in #276 for free info. 1109Texas.indd 782 8/24/11 10:10 AM Following are the Texas rankings and factors contributing farm employment opportunities increased 61 to that ranking by Forbes: percent 1997-2008. 6. Corpus Christi: 27.8-percent job growth over the Big Cities last fi ve years in natural resources, mining and 1. Austin-Round Rock: 14.8 percent job growth between construction; healthy energy sector. 2004 and 2008, strong service-sector performance. 2. Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown: Modest growth Small Cities across sectors; manufacturing jobs up 2.3 percent in 1. Odessa: Job growth of 5.5 percent last year; the last year. robust energy sector activity; mining and 3. San Antonio: Strong education and healthcare construction sector cumulative growth up services job growth. 905 percent since 2003. 4. Fort Worth-Arlington: Cumulative employment 3. Longview: Manufacturing job growth is up growth of 30 percent between 2004 and 2007. 9.8 percent since 2003. 5. Dallas-Plano-Irving: Slightly negative growth since 5. Kileen-Temple-Fort Hood: Diverse economy with 2007, but gains in education, government and health strong service-sector job growth since 2003. service sectors. 6. Laredo: Job growth is up 15.8 percent over the last four years, most due to strong service sectors. Mid-Sized Cities 10. College Station-Bryan: Non-farm employment 1. McAllen-Edinburg-Mission: 48-percent gain in rose 3.2 percent in 2008; strong service-sector education and healthcare jobs since 2003; non- job growth. — Mark Arend such as Sologen Systems, which is at- technologies. 140,000 homes and small businesses in tempting to develop grid-scale geother- “That bodes well for the future the CPS service area. mal power at abandoned oil wells. because we can help them grow organi- “No one has done something of this CPS Energy is providing the Univer- cally,” says CPS CEO Doyle Beneby. scale yet, so there are a lot of things we sity of Texas at San Antonio with $60 Consert Inc.’s headquarters reloca- will be learning together,” says Consert million over 10 years to create the Texas tion from Raleigh will create 50 jobs CEO Jack Roberts. Sustainable Energy Research Institute. by the fi rst quarter of 2012, with more Consert serves electric co-ops and The city will also focus on building to follow. The company inked a deal to municipally owned utilities. A pilot capacity of companies with promising install energy-management software in project with CPS showed average Write in #513 for free info. SITE SELECTION SEPTEMBER 2011 783 1109Texas.indd 783 8/24/11 10:10 AM energy savings of 10 percent, convinc- ing Beneby that Consert could help cut 250 megawatts of peak power demand. Energy effi ciency and the addition of renewables are part of a strategy to retire an aging coal-fi red plant by 2018. The city opted to invest in clean technology instead of spend- Doyle Beneby, CEO of CPS Energy, is ing $500 million in working with San Antonio offi cials to retrofi ts required to bring about a New Energy Economy in the region. meet new emissions standards. The regulations have pitted Gov. Rick Perry against the Environ- mental Protection Agency. “With the cloud of additional regulation and uncertainty of the costs of traditional energy sources, we decided it made sense to diversify the energy mix,” Castro said.