By Blake Farmer
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkno/local-wkno-909252.mp3
Nashville, TN – Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen has placed big bets on the alternative energy table, particularly in the area of solar technology. The candidates running to replace Bredesen say they plan to maintain the focus. WPLN's Blake Farmer reports as part of a collaboration with public radio stations around the state to cover the governor's race.
A rough count of how much money Tennessee has invested in alternative energy over Governor Bredesen's tenure quickly approaches half a billion dollars. That's money spent on tax breaks, job training and infrastructure - like site preparation before a major plant gets built.
Bredesen, a Democrat, says he's tried to make the economic-case for luring clean energy companies to Tennessee.
"I mean I'm conservation minded, but I want to justify this on a much broader basis. I don't want to people to feel this is just about reducing carbon foot print or anything else. This is a way to create jobs, to create opportunity for the young people of Tennessee to have the jobs of the future," Bredesen said.
Last year, Bredesen recruited new plants to Tennessee from the world's two largest producers of polysilicon - the building block of solar conductors.
The lone Democrat in the race, Jackson businessman Mike McWherter, says there's a no-brainer opportunity to move more of that solar manufacturing process here. Soon Hemlock Semiconducter and Wacker Chemie will make polysilicon and ship it overseas. Some of it will come back to be assembled into solar panels by Sharp in Memphis, which McWherter says doesn't make sense.
"In my opinion very wasteful to have to ship raw product to another country then ship it back to Tennessee to be assembled," McWherter explains. "I'm glad they do it and I'm delighted Sharp is here, but I will specifically go after those companies that are developing those cells and in that industry, and we'll put together whatever kind of packages we have to have? Tax incentives, tax breaks, training."
Netting more solar jobs is also on the platforms of the three major Republican candidates, though they seem more cautious or just realistic about offering incentives.
"Right now I think we gotta be real careful with out budget because we don't have any room to do anything," Wamp said. "We're going to have to cut in a lot of areas, so to talk tax breaks for much of anybody while we have to lay off people may not make sense."
Wamp says a low-cost of living and the fact that workers can't be forced to join a union here may be the only incentives companies need to consider Tennessee.
Neither Wamp nor Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey touts his eco-friendly credentials. They're quicker to talk about gun rights than going green. Both have been harsh critics of state environmental regulations, but they speak highly of the budding clean energy sector. Ramsey agrees solar jobs could be the sunlight Tennessee needs to grow out of the recession.
"I think that's what we need to continue to be doing, but I'll tell you one thing. I think the market needs to be driving this. If we set up artificial subsidies, artificial incentives, when those incentives and subsidies run out, what do you do with those," Ramsey said.
The state has some experience at creating a market from scratch like Ramsey is talking about. A $70 million biorefinery project in East Tennessee is paying nearby farmers to grow switchgrass for ethanol production. Otherwise, there's no market for the native plants. There are still questions about whether switchgrass is the ideal source for ethanol, but most alternative energy technology still needs further development. Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam says solar has to get cheaper.
"Ultimately, we have to make it cost competitive, market competitive source of energy," Haslam said.
In the U.S., it's still less expensive to get electricity from coal than from a solar panel. But Haslam says cost is a nut the University of Tennessee and Oak Ridge National Lab are trying to crack.
"If we could do that and take a research lead as well as a manufacturing lead with the capacity we're building, that's a huge competitive advantage," Haslam said.
It's clear the candidates are comfortable with Governor Bredesen's gamble on solar power. What separates them is whether they're ready to double down.
To hear the candidates' full responses to our questions on job creation visit our TN Governor's Race 2010 page.