Research Plus Innovation Propel Clean-Tech Growth in 2010
Andrea Siedsma
San Diego’s emerging clean technology cluster continues to help green the local economy. From solar power and wind technologies to clean transportation, smart sensors, energy-storage systems and biofuels, the region is chock-full of companies that are making great strides in sustainability as well as creating new jobs.
The number of clean technology companies in San Diego is nearly 650 and growing rapidly, according to CleanTECH San Diego, a nonprofit working to accelerate San Diego’s position as a world leader in the clean energy economy. CleanTECH San Diego advocates for new sources of investment capital, work force development, federal and state research funding, international trade, targeted regulation, and sustainable land use planning and development for local “green” companies.
Lisa Bicker, CleanTECH San Diego’s president and CEO, said this burgeoning industry mirrors the region’s biotech community, which was largely spun out of local research institutes and universities, namely UC San Diego.
“One in three biotechs in San Diego was started from local university research. If that’s any indication for the clean-tech industry, that bodes well for creating a very robust clean-tech economic cluster,” Bicker said. “Our region knows how to build and support clusters. The key to that success is a strong correlation between our rich university research and the private sector.”
Another big shot in the arm for San Diego’s clean-tech cluster during the last year has been an abundance of federal stimulus dollars. A coalition of San Diego stakeholders, led by CleanTECH San Diego, recently netted $154 million in allocations for financing renewable energy projects for public facilities under the Clean Renewable Energy Bonds, or CREBs, program. The federal stimulus funding will pay for 192 solar installation projects for public facilities, which will promote hundreds of new green jobs and increase the capacity of locally produced solar energy by more than 40 percent with an estimated 20 megawatts of additional solar power.
