Attracting Renewable Energy Jobs to MS

Mississippi is looking to be on the cutting edge of the renewable energy industry. At a conference this week, industry insiders, lawmakers and others worked to find ways to bring renewable energy development to the state. MPB’s Stephen Koranda

To attract new green industries around biomass and biofuels, there needs to be a source of feedstock material –for example timber processing byproducts- and a sufficient electric grid to supply and export power. Right now the state is lacking that combination in some areas, says House Agriculture Committee Chair Greg Ward of Ripley.

“The southeast of Mississippi has the timber readily available for these biomass facilitates. In the northeast of Mississippi we have the power grids for these facilities, but we don’t have the resources they have in southeast Mississippi.”

Some biodiesel producers are also struggling to get the vegetable oil or other products they need to make the fuel. Kevin Rasberry works at a facility in Quitman, Mississippi. He says most of the feedstocks for biodiesel in Mississippi are going to larger, out-of-state producers.

“We can’t compete with it on a smaller scale, unless we have some kind of incentive, some kind of tax incentive for these companies to keep that stuff in state, so we can produce here and create jobs here.”

Getting tax incentives in this economic climate could be a challenge, says Senator Billy Hewes of Gulfport.

“There’s just so much money to go around and so few credits to go around. We’re going to have to be innovating in our approach. Any types of tax credits in the foreseeable future are going to be difficult for any technology.”

If the state can get more renewable energy industries off the ground, it could be a major player in the field. Some rankings put Mississippi near the top of states with resources available for producing renewable energy.