Cleantech America, Inc. is taking a leadership role as a pioneer in creating green collar jobs and in promoting worker re-education. In Mendota, Calif., where we're developing CalRENEW-1, a 5 megawatt utility-scale photovoltaic solar farm, Cleantech America, Inc. has provided a seed grant for worker re-education. We're partnering with the City of Mendota to develop programs to retrain farm workers in solar installation and maintenance.

"One great benefit of utility-scale PV solar is that it can be located in grid, not only where the energy is needed but also close to an existing workforce," says CEO Bill Barnes. "As responsible solar farmers, we promote partnering with local communities to retrain workers who will then benefit from the growing demand for green collar employees." CalRENEW-1 is projected to create installation and maintenance jobs as well as manufacturing jobs which will benefit the local and national economy.

In addition, Cleantech America, Inc. encourages company employees to take an active role in local economic development efforts. For example, Mark Stout, Cleantech America's Director of Renewable Technology Planning, chairs the Innovative Energy Cluster of the Fresno Regional Jobs Initiative, which has as its goal generating 30,000 new jobs. Mark also serves on the board of the Central Valley Business Incubator, designed to establish California's Central Valley as a world leader in energy and water innovation.