The McDonnell Group

ATLANTA  - January 31, 2010 –  It’s about the jobs stupid! That ditty sure has been worn thin this week in the wake of the U.S. State of the Union Address.  The press cynicism around job creation from the stimulus – smart grid or otherwise- isn’t putting a damper on budding optimism from signs of a slow return to growth.  Soon, as companies hire and manufacturers slowly add back staff and shifts, the US economy will once again spur an increase in electric consumption load growth after a short and historic pause.   

The irony is that it was during this small pause in load growth that the Smart Grid really flourished and exploded onto the scene as a global ideal for a cleaner, more efficient future for electric power. 

How cool is it that Southern Company (www.southerncompany.com) is going to partner on renewable energy with Ted Turner?  

So what about all of these smart grid stimulus jobs or utility jobs in general?  From where we’re standing -- in the electric utility portion of our business--there are some serious and concrete job growth numbers going up across the board.  One client’s landmark demand-side contract for the largest distributed energy storage project in the world will create hundreds of permanent new clean energy jobs. Another client will be hiring hundreds of workers for their new manufacturing plant. In fact, every client we work with has open or opening job requisitions.

According to the Edison EIectric Institute (EEI), electric utility industry jobs total nearly 400,000 with the industry representing roughly 3% of GDP.  What these numbers don’t show is the multiplier effect of increases in reliability and efficiency in the electric utility sector on other parts of the economy.  Electric power drives every element of our economy. An increased resilience in our electric grid delivers unseen and mostly unaccounted for productivity gains (and avoided productivity losses due to outages).

US utility industry engineers and scientists are collaborating more than ever across public, private and business lines. The industry is working to share best practices and lead the ongoing refurbishment, fortification, and modernization of our nation’s electric utility infrastructure. Smart Grid is about innovation around digitally-driven energy. It results in permanent, high paying jobs and technology for worldwide export.  We should support Smart Grid not only because it pays rapid job dividends for the US economy today, but also because it accrues societal benefits that provide returns for our children tomorrow.    

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