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22 <br />DEVELOPMENT OF A SOLAR CLUSTER IN ORANGE COUNTY April 13, 2009 <br />Orange County Economic Development Commission <br />Small Business Impact <br />A survey conducted by IEI showed that the new and upcoming energy economy is <br />comprised of young business employing less than 10 employees (IEI, 2008). Like larger <br />fums, these small businesses will be looking for suppliers, customers and a community <br />educated in the clean energy business. Approximately 80% of the projected <br />employment growth in the renewable energy and energy efficiency industry is reported to <br />occur in firms that employ less than 100 people (NCSEA, 2008). The small business <br />component will be crucial in devising a strategy to grow this market. <br />Job Growth <br />Renewable energy sources tend to be more labor <br />intensive than traditional energy sources they replace (Cherry <br />and Saha, 2008). Additionally, supporting industries that will <br />support the solar/renewable energy cluster growth includes <br />industries such as research, finance, and legal -the jobs <br />created from the renewable energy industry will ripple through <br />traditional industries. <br />"The largest <br />number of jobs <br />will be in the <br />growing solar <br />industry, <br />particularly in the <br />construction field." <br />From `North Carolina's Energy <br />Futures: Realizing a State of <br />Opportunity'; a progress report <br />on NC's new energy economy, <br />by Institute for Emerging Issues, <br />The positive aspect of the anticipated growth in the renewable industry is that the <br />jobs created cannot be outsourced -the work is local. A survey conducted in February <br />2009 by the North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association (NCSEA) showed that if <br />select state and federal legislative activities are completed by July 2009 (including the <br />federal stimulus package) North Carolina could see over 7,500 new jobs in sustainable <br />energy businesses over the next two years. Based on this survey, the greatest percentage <br />of future projects (45%) were planned to be located in central North Carolina. <br />For EDC use only 16 <br />