Small Businesses Powering the Clean Energy Economy (Senate Small Business Committee hearing, May 9, 2025)
Summary
The printed record of S. Hrg. 119–94, a field hearing of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship titled Small Businesses Powering the Clean Energy Economy, held May 9, 2025 at the Benjamin Franklin Cummings Institute of Technology in Boston, MA, and printed in 2025. The committee met at 10:00 a.m. with Ranking Member Edward J. Markey presiding as the only senator present. Four witnesses testified: Dr. Emily Reichert, CEO of the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center; Nick d'Arbeloff, President of the Solar Energy Business Association of New England; Dr. Aisha Francis, President and CEO of the host institute; and Joshua Aviv, CEO of SparkCharge, Somerville, MA. Chair Joni K. Ernst submitted a statement for the record. Markey closed by announcing a report on the Trump policies' impact on small business; the hearing adjourned at 11:49 a.m.
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“Small Businesses Powering the Clean Energy Economy (Senate Small Business Committee hearing, May 9, 2025).”
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S. HRG. 119–94
SMALL BUSINESSES POWERING THE CLEAN
ENERGY ECONOMY
FIELD HEARING
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS
AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP
OF THE
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED NINETEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
MAY 9, 2025
Printed for the use of the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship
(
Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.govinfo.gov
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
60–612 WASHINGTON : 2025
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COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP
ONE HUNDRED NINETEENTH CONGRESS
JONI ERNST, Iowa, Chair
EDWARD J. MARKEY, Massachusetts, Ranking Member
JAMES E. RISCH, Idaho MARIA CANTWELL, Washington
RAND PAUL, Kentucky JEANNE SHAHEEN, New Hampshire
TIM SCOTT, South Carolina CORY A. BOOKER, New Jersey
TODD YOUNG, Indiana CHRISTOPHER A. COONS, Delaware
JOSH HAWLEY, Missouri MAZIE K. HIRONO, Hawaii
TED BUDD, North Carolina JACKY ROSEN, Nevada
JOHN R. CURTIS, Utah JOHN W. HICKENLOOPER, Colorado
JAMES C. JUSTICE, West Virginia ADAM B. SCHIFF, California
JOHN HUSTED, Ohio
MEREDITH WEST, Republican Staff Director
SEAN MOORE, Democratic Staff Director
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CONTENTS
MAY 9, 2025
OPENING STATEMENT
Page
Edward J. Markey, Senator from Massachusetts, Ranking Member .................. 1
WITNESSES
Dr. Emily Reichert, CEO, Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, Boston, MA ... 3
Prepared Statement ......................................................................................... 6
Mr. Nick d’Arbeloff, President, Solar Energy Business Association of New
England, Randolph, MA ...................................................................................... 14
Prepared Statement ......................................................................................... 17
Dr. Aisha Francis, President and CEO, Benjamin Franklin Cummings Insti-
tute of Technology, Boston, MA .......................................................................... 20
Prepared Statement ......................................................................................... 24
Mr. Joshua Aviv, CEO, SparkCharge, Somerville, MA ........................................ 27
Prepared Statement ......................................................................................... 30
ADDITIONAL LETTERS/STATEMENTS FOR THE RECORD
Joni K. Ernst, Senator from Iowa, Committee Chair ........................................... 48
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FIELD HEARING:
SMALL BUSINESSES POWERING THE CLEAN
ENERGY ECONOMY
FRIDAY, MAY 9, 2025
U.S. SENATE,
COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS
AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP,
Washington, DC.
The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:00 a.m., at Ben-
jamin Franklin Cummings Institute of Technology, 41 Berkeley
Street, Boston, MA, Hon. Edward J. Markey, Ranking Member of
the Committee, presiding.
Present: Senator Markey.
STATEMENT OF SENATOR MARKEY
Senator MARKEY. Good morning, everyone. The Senate Com-
mittee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship will come to order.
As we come to the end of the National Small Business Week, we
are here today to talk about an issue that is very important to all
of us here in Massachusetts—the clean energy economy. This is one
of the fastest growing industries in the United States. Nearly 3.5
million Americans work in clean energy, and the sector is adding
jobs three times faster than the overall U.S. workforce, and Massa-
chusetts is leading the way.
Here in the commonwealth, the clean energy economy supports
more than 200,000 jobs, an 80 percent increase since 2010. We also
lead the nation in climate tech start-ups per capita, with 49 start-
ups per 1 million residents. That is what makes us not just the Bay
State but the Brain State. We are moving to the future, techno-
logically.
Today we are at Franklin Cummings Tech, a school on the front
lines of making economic and climate justice a reality. In 2013,
Senator Warren and I, in the Senate, working with Congress-
woman Pressley in the House, secured $800,000 in funding to help
launch the school’s Center for Energy Efficiency and the Trades. I
am proud to have helped get such an innovative program off of the
ground.
Small businesses play an important role in the clean energy
economy, but uncertainty and chaos could affect our path to a just,
livable future for everyone. Our clean energy transition isn’t just
about mitigating the devastating impacts of the climate crisis. It is
about building an economy with accessible, good-paying jobs, and
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it is about centering justice.
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A major part of building this future is supporting the small busi-
nesses in the industry. We all know small businesses are the back-
bone of the American economy, and that is no different here. They
account for a significant portion of clean energy jobs in the United
States. In fact, 75 percent of energy efficiency businesses are small
businesses, employing 20 or fewer workers.
The Inflation Reduction Act, the largest climate bill in history,
is a down payment for a livable future, and is helping small busi-
nesses in the clean energy economy thrive. The IRA supports jobs
and small businesses with tax credits to improve energy efficiency
in homes, in businesses, produce clean energy, and install solar
and wind and battery technology. And these credits are inten-
tionally designed to favor projects to pay prevailing wages and in-
vest in apprenticeship programs.
In other words, IRA investments mean that a local restaurant
can lower its electricity bill by installing rooftop solar, or the corner
store, down the street, can buy electric delivery vehicles and install
charging stations, allowing shoppers to charge up while they grab
groceries for the week.
In addition, the $20 billion in funding from the Greenhouse Gas
Reduction Fund, the single largest investment in the Inflation Re-
duction Act, and based on my National Climate Bank legislation,
is projected to generate a combined $250 billion in public and pri-
vate sector funding over the first 10 years of the Climate Bank,
much of which would support jobs and small businesses. That is
not me touting my Climate Bank. That is McKinsey doing an anal-
ysis of how much private sector funding would be unleashed by the
Climate Bank in the first 10 years.
But the Trump administration has frozen the money, creating
uncertainty, and putting small businesses depending on all of this
funding at risk. We must continue investing in American jobs and
small businesses by preserving the IRA’s tax credits. This means
investing in clean and efficient energy technologies, safeguard
Small Business Administration lending options, and supporting
small business importers and exporters.
Likewise, the Small Business Administration, or SBA, can sup-
port low-cost financing of energy-efficient and renewable tech-
nologies. Low-cost energy loans from the SBA have been used by
hotels on Cape Cod to install solar panels to lower costs, to help
hotels survive the winter season.
The SBA also provides grants to innovative climate tech compa-
nies through the Small Business Innovation Research and Small
Business Technology Transfer programs, and has helped clean en-
ergy ensure that those small businesses expand to foreign markets,
with grants through the State Trade Expansion Program, also
known as STEP.
President Trump’s budget, released last week, proposed cutting
STEP entirely, cutting the State Trade Expansion Program. Even
as he is talking about tariffs, he wants to eliminate the program
which would provide that extra help for state trade expansion. He
also wants to eliminate many other key Federal programs that
small businesses rely upon.
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The Trump administration is denying small businesses the sup-
port and the capital they need to keep pushing American innova-
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tion forward. The clean energy economy is the key to a healthy cli-
mate future for everyone, and supporting small businesses should
never be a partisan issue.
In Massachusetts, we know the importance of investing in entre-
preneurs. We have built an ecosystem of innovation, where start-
ups and small businesses are creating the technologies that are
transforming our world. We need clean energy entrepreneurs to de-
velop, install, and maintain the technology and infrastructure that
are the foundation of our clean energy economy. The future of our
environment and economy depends upon these continued invest-
ments in small businesses, and I look forward to discussing them
in today’s field hearing.
So we have an incredible panel of experts who are joining us this
morning, and I am going to give each one of them their proper in-
troduction, and one by one you are going to hear some of the smart-
est people in America explain why this is a key part of our econ-
omy, both here and across the nation.
First up is Dr. Emily Reichert, the Chief Executive Officer of the
Massachusetts Clean Energy Center. For more than a decade,
Emily has been an essential part of what makes Massachusetts a
climate and clean energy leader. With technical and business ex-
pertise, Emily led Greentown Labs to become the largest climate
tech start-up incubator in North America, attracting billions in in-
vestments and creating thousands of jobs. As CEO of MassCEC,
Emily is working to develop the clean energy workforce and drive
equitable growth across Massachusetts.
So Dr. Reichert, thank you so much for being with us. Whenever
you feel ready, please begin.
STATEMENT OF EMILY REICHERT, Ph.D., CEO,
MASSACHUSETTS CLEAN ENERGY CENTER, BOSTON, MA
Ms. REICHERT. Good morning, Senator Markey. Thank you for
gathering us here today to discuss the clean energy economy in
Massachusetts, and specifically the economic impact of clean en-
ergy small businesses and clean energy workers.
I want to first thank Franklin Cummings Tech and President
Aisha Francis for hosting us. At MassCEC we are fortunate to have
Dr. Francis as a valued member of our board of directors.
My name is Emily Reichert and I have the honor of serving as
the CEO of the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, also known as
MassCEC. MassCEC is a quasi-state economic development agency
dedicated to accelerating the growth of the clean energy and cli-
mate tech sector across Massachusetts. We do this to spur job cre-
ation, deliver statewide environmental benefits, and secure long-
term economic growth for our residents.
I appreciate the opportunity to share findings that we have gath-
ered as part of MassCEC’s annual Clean Energy Industry Survey.
MassCEC is required by law to submit an annual report detailing
the state’s clean energy industry to the Massachusetts legislature.
While we are still finalizing the report, I would like to share a few
highlights with you today. The headline is: the Massachusetts
clean energy economy is strong.
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The clean energy industry has become a major part of the Massa-
chusetts economy and has seen continued growth in jobs, busi-
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nesses, and economic impact. There are over 7,500 clean energy
businesses in Massachusetts, and 58 percent of clean energy busi-
nesses in Massachusetts are small businesses, with 10 or fewer
workers.
The Massachusetts clean energy industry has doubled since
2010, adding nearly 60,000 jobs. In total, Massachusetts is home
to over 115,000 clean energy workers. That is 115,000 Massachu-
setts residents who rely on work in clean energy businesses, many
of them small businesses, to support themselves and their families.
But the impact of the industry is much greater than 115,000 jobs
alone, because the Massachusetts clean energy industry supports
another 43,500 indirect jobs, and nearly 70,000 induced jobs. Indi-
rect jobs are those outside the clean energy sector that provide crit-
ical supply chain goods and services for the sector, and induced
jobs are those that result from increased spending in the economy,
thanks to the clean energy industry.
In total, the clean energy industry powers 233,427 direct, indi-
rect, and induced jobs, according to our recent report.
As well, the industry has been responsible for generating a sig-
nificant amount of tax dollars, including $5.9 in Federal taxes, and
$2.9 billion in state and local taxes invested back in the economy
here. In 2023, the clean energy sector contributed $15.9 billion, or
about 2 percent, to the commonwealth’s gross state product.
However, the numbers in this year’s annual industry report only
reflect clean energy jobs. Massachusetts has a booming climate
tech sector, as well. We are number one in the U.S. for climate tech
startups per capita, with many young companies emerging from
our local universities and growing into successful climate tech man-
ufacturing businesses. Recent examples who are also grantees of
MassCEC’s programs include Aeroshield Materials, in Waltham,
Massachusetts, which is developing advanced insulation materials
to improve energy efficiency in buildings; AM Batteries, in Bil-
lerica, Massachusetts, which is pioneering cleaner, more efficient
ways to make batteries for electric vehicles and other energy stor-
age applications; and Clean Crop Technologies in Holyoke, Massa-
chusetts, which is using innovative technology to keep food fresher
or longer and cut waste across the food supply chain.
Another exciting highlight of the report is that the Massachu-
setts clean energy industry is a statewide industry. Seventy-four
percent of clean energy businesses are outside of the greater Bos-
ton area. These workers and small businesses are improving the
quality of life for countless residents across Massachusetts. They
are making lives more affordable and more comfortable. They are
helping drivers switch to cleaner electric vehicles. They are helping
homeowners and businesses make their homes and commercial
buildings healthier and more efficient. They are reducing pollution
and building a future with cleaner air and water. And they are
helping us accelerate the transition to clean energy sources that
are more reliable and more secure.
The continued growth of the clean energy industry is already
vital to the well-being of many Massachusetts families. But we
know we have more work to do to grow jobs and ensure everyone
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can take part in the benefits of clean energy. Women and minority
workers continue to be underrepresented in the industry, and that
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is why equitable workforce development is one of our top priorities
at MassCEC.
Massachusetts needs roughly 28,000 additional workers to meet
our 2030 climate goals, but 37 percent of clean energy employers
reported that they found it very difficult to hire qualified workers.
That is why yesterday I traveled to Essex North Shore Technical
and Agricultural High School in Danvers, Massachusetts, to an-
nounce $7.3 million in workforce development grants to 25 incred-
ible organizations across the commonwealth, including community
colleges, unions, and technical high schools. These grants will sup-
port local organizations working to build training pipelines, raise
awareness, and expand access to clean energy jobs.
On a global scale, the clean energy transition is unstoppable. But
the competition is fierce and other countries are moving forward.
The progress we have made over the past 15 years here in Mas-
sachusetts is incredible, and we have much to be proud of. This
work wouldn’t be possible without people coming together across
higher education, government, labor, industry, and the nonprofit
sector.
Massachusetts is a climate leader and a hub for innovation, and
will continue to grow the clean energy industry and accelerate cli-
mate tech solutions. But without reliable Federal investments, our
entrepreneurs and small businesses will suffer, and when small
businesses suffer, so do workers, consumers, and entire commu-
nities. This is the time when we should strengthen our support for
clean energy small businesses and workers, as well as the re-
searchers and innovators who drive ground-breaking climate solu-
tions.
I appreciate the opportunity to speak about positive economic im-
pact of the clean energy small businesses and the workers who
power this growing industry in Massachusetts. Senator Markey,
thank you again for inviting MassCEC to testify today. I look for-
ward to your questions.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Reichert follows:]
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Senator MARKEY. Thank you so much, Doctor. And you are right.
This is a global revolution. Last year, for the first time in history,
there was more funding invested into solar than in oil, for the first
time in history. So this is no longer some small piece of the whole
clean energy or energy economy, in general. It is just growing expo-
nentially. So thank you so much, Doctor.
Next we have Nick d’Arbeloff, President of the Board for the
Solar Energy Business Association of New England, or SEBANE.
SEBANE is a collection of solar energy companies in New England,
including residential and commercial developers, installers, and
consultants, and manufacturers. Nick is also Head of Market De-
velopment at ReVision Energy, a mission-driven, employee-owned
solar company with locations in North Andover and Wakefield.
We thank you, Nick, for coming, and I welcome you to make an
opening statement.
STATEMENT OF NICK D’ARBELOFF, PRESIDENT, SOLAR EN-
ERGY BUSINESS ASSOCIATION OF NEW ENGLAND (SEBANE),
RANDOLPH, MA
Mr. D’ARBELOFF. Thank you. Ranking Member Markey and mem-
bers of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepre-
neurship, thank you for this opportunity to testify today. As you
note, I am Nick d’Arbeloff. I serve as President of SEBANE, the
Solar Energy Business Association of New England.
Before I begin I would like to express my thanks to you, Senator
Markey, for all that you do and all that you have done to support
clean energy in Massachusetts and nationwide. Your tireless efforts
to advance legislation that helps clean energy businesses gain a
foothold and grow has been critical to the success of the Massachu-
setts clean energy economy.
Back in 2008, when I served as the founding President of the
England Clean Energy Council, now the Alliance for Climate Tran-
sition, I remember well the support you offered our young organiza-
tion. I am deeply grateful for your dedication to the clean energy
cause.
SEBANE’s mission is to protect and promote the New England
solar industry through informed policy intervention, coalition build-
ing, and stakeholder education. Our members include residential
installers, commercial developers, systems integrators, solar compo-
nent manufacturers, and service providers. The vast majority of
our members are small businesses, and all of them have been sig-
nificantly impacted by the erratic changes in policy over the last
few months.
SEBANE members work diligently each day to deploy clean en-
ergy resources throughout our region. Domestic energy production
is vital to achieving energy independence, and much of our
progress has been greatly accelerated by the Section 48 and 25D
investment tax credits. These clean energy tax benefits have a
long-standing history of bipartisan support, and their extension
under the IRA offer the regulatory certainty that our member busi-
nesses depend on to plan, hire, and invest. Repealing these provi-
sions, especially when paired with the volatility caused by proposed
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tariffs, would deal a significant blow, financial blow, to project via-
bility and thus to our member businesses, jeopardizing thousands
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of jobs and millions of dollars in private investment that power our
regional economy.
Many of our small business member companies, including some
that have been operating for more than 20 years, have expressed
serious concerns about the potential rollback of the Inflation Re-
duction Act. Several have indicated that they will be forced to sig-
nificantly reduce their workforce or close their doors entirely if
these changes move forward. Investors are increasingly hesitant to
finance projects due to uncertainties around tax credits, grants,
and tariffs, all of which are now being factored into both the cost
of capital and asset valuations.
As a result, projects are being halted mid-development. Installers
are raising their prices significantly, some by more than 20 per-
cent. Several members have warned that the imposition of tariffs
could effectively shut down the battery storage sector altogether.
While SEBANE has worked successfully with the Healey admin-
istration and previous administrations to advance policies, to re-
duce barriers, and open new markets for solar, the combined im-
pact of IRA rollbacks and tariffs would be devastating for many of
our small business members. Moreover, SEBANE itself, operating
as a nonprofit funded entirely through member dues and edu-
cational event revenue, may not withstand the financial strain that
such cuts would impose across our membership base.
Tariffs are not new to the solar industry. We saw tariffs intro-
duced in 2012, when it was believed that the Chinese were dump-
ing panels in the U.S. below their cost to manufacture. In 2018,
several new tariffs were added. These were then extended in 2022.
Multiple administrations have levied solar tariffs, kept them in
place, and/or extended them. At this moment in time, what is most
concerning is both the scale and unpredictability of the tariffs being
implemented.
Any business, small or large, seeks to understand and account
for all the variables that may adversely impact its operations. If a
business knows that a component is going to cost more in the years
ahead, they can plan for it. What makes planning more challenging
is a situation where it is difficult, if not impossible, to understand
or even estimate what that component will cost. This is the very
situation that solar companies find themselves in today.
The Biden administration placed an emphasis on the domestic
manufacturing of solar components. The policy was well designed
and well implemented. As a result, major panel manufacturers
began building assembly plants here in the United States. Hanwha
opened plans in Dalton and Cartersville, Georgia; Silfab opened
plants in Burlington, Washington, and Fort Mill, South Carolina;
JA in Phoenix, Arizona; Jinko in Jacksonville, Florida. It is impor-
tant to note that the policy leaned on carrots rather than sticks.
If a project used components with high domestic content, it was eli-
gible for higher tax credits. This incentive drove the market and ul-
timately drove manufacturers to invest in U.S. operations.
Currently, these manufacturing plants are not building solar
panels from the ground up. They are still primarily assembly
plants. They receive subcomponents from around the globe, and the
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finished product is assembled in the U.S. This represents a huge
step forward in increasing the domestic content of panels installed
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in the U.S., but it is worth nothing that a panel with every single
subcomponent made in the United States is mostly aspirational. It
is not realistic given today’s global supply chains. The previous pol-
icy took this into account.
The tariffs being implemented in 2025 are all sticks and no car-
rots. In fact, many of the financial incentives that the industry has
started to leverage have been swept off the table. It is possible the
courts may bring some of these incentive and grant monies back.
It is also possible they will not. Most concerning, it is possible that
Congress will reduce tax credits in the coming months, something
SEBANE members very strongly oppose.
With all subcomponents now facing a range of different punitive
tariffs, the industry has gone from the possibility of bonus incen-
tives, with prices remaining relatively stable, to a situation where
there are now no bonus incentives and prices are starting to fluc-
tuate wildly. This rapidly changing landscape creates substantial
instability.
The solar industry, both in Massachusetts and across the nation,
is quite accustomed to policy-driven ups and downs. After all, that
is why it is so commonly referred to by insiders as the ‘‘the solar
coaster.’’ We have weathered many storms, and it is my expectation
that the industry will weather this storm, as well. And it is critical
that we do so, since solar remains one of the most powerful tools
available for combatting climate change. Solar not only increase
our nation’s energy independence and enhances grid resiliency, it
also offers a reliable, affordable source of electricity that moves us
away from the dangers of fossil fuels.
Senator Markey, as you know well, the battle to prevent climate
catastrophe is not going particularly well. That said, giving up the
fight is simply not an option. To the greatest extent possible,
SEBANE’s members, along with solar companies across the coun-
try, will continue doing what we do, both as small businesses seek-
ing to grow and prosper and as a group of dedicated professionals
helping civilization avoid the very worst impacts of climate change.
Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today.
[The prepared statement of Mr. d’Arbeloff follows:]
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Senator MARKEY. Thank you, Nick, so much, and thank you for
career-long dedication to these issues.
Next we are going to hear from Dr. Aisha Francis, President of
Benjamin Franklin Cummings Institute. In 2021, Dr. Francis be-
came the school’s first female President. As President, Dr. Francis
has been an advocate for clean technology, overseeing the school’s
efforts to gear programs to its training students in fields such as
green building practices, renewable energy, and electric vehicle
technology.
President Francis, thank you for hosting us here at Franklin
Cummings Tech. It looks absolutely beautiful, and I know that, as
you told me earlier, there are 1,100 students who are benefitting
from all of your great teaching here at the school. Thank you for
hosting us, and we are looking forward to your opening statement.
STATEMENT OF AISHA FRANCIS, PH.D., PRESIDENT AND CEO,
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN CUMMINGS INSTITUTE OF TECH-
NOLOGY, BOSTON, MA
Ms. FRANCIS. Thank you so much, Senator Markey. Good morn-
ing, Chair Ernst, Ranking Member Markey, and distinguished
members of the Committee, and thank you so much for being in
our home. We are happy to have you here, and for the opportunity
to give testimony this morning.
I want to speak with you about Franking Cummings Tech and
how we look at bringing economic opportunity to our students and
graduates in the communities we serve through supporting small
businesses and the economy by supplying them with the talent that
is needed for them to grow, particularly for clean energy companies
and other companies that might not consider themselves clean en-
ergy companies but rely on talent that is educated in the clean en-
ergy sector, which we do.
Benjamin Franklin Cummings Institute of Technology is directly
connected to our namesake, Benjamin Franklin, who left 1,000
pounds to the City of Boston for the purpose of teaching people a
trade and making sure they could go into apprenticeship and be-
coming contributing members of society. And all these decades and
centuries later, we are proud to continue that legacy and to make
a very clear connection between that legacy and sustainability.
From the student application process all the way through job
placement, Franklin Cummings Tech makes sure that we empower
learnings to achieve their career goals and attain economic ad-
vancement through flexible, hands-on technical and trade edu-
cation. We are a two-year college, and we believe in making edu-
cation affordable.
And who are our students and what are our outcomes? We have
an 84 percent job placement rate. Our alum report a median in-
come of almost $60,000 one year after graduation, which is impor-
tant considering that their annual household income at time of
graduation is less than $35,000. And 46 percent of our students are
first-generation college students, almost all of whom receive finan-
cial assistance.
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We also believe in early college programming and making sure
high school is even more valuable to students by making it possible
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21
to receive an entire year of college-level credit while students are
in high school.
So throughout history we have also frequently adapted our cur-
riculum to meet the needs of industry and match the pace of tech-
nological advances and changes. This prepares graduates and citi-
zens for in-demand jobs, which is important to keep economies
humming.
Things change. We know that. Soon after this particular building
was opened in 1908, there was a line of people waiting around the
block to take classes that taught them how to repair the Model T
Ford. Today, we have people lining up to learn about hybrid and
electric vehicle technology. So sometimes things change, and in
other ways they stay the same. One thing we are very fortunate
about is that in 2023, we received investment from community-di-
rected spending—thank you, Senator Markey—for our Center for
Energy Efficiency and the Trades. The center was established a few
years ago to encapsulate and better organize sustainability pro-
gramming that had already been happening across our campus in
multiple majors. It is an example of how important it is to thought-
fully prepare for what is coming and make sure that good-paying,
in-demand jobs that align with the skills that are available in local
marketplaces happen at the college level.
We believe it is important to serve as an intermediary between
the workplace and the talent pool. It is important role that colleges
play. It is an important role for society. Our Center for Energy Effi-
ciency and the Trades does this by giving companies who are look-
ing for clean tech talent one place where they can search and part-
ner for the talent they need to grow their businesses.
Affordable, high-quality programs that align with sustainability,
that are offered through certificate, associate degree education is
an important aspect of the small business ecosystem, and I am
going to spend some time explaining how.
We expertly train untapped talent, mostly people who are first-
generation college students, immigrants, children of immigrants,
and others who have chosen to go into clean tech careers or careers
in sustainability. And the demand for that work has been outstrip-
ping supply. These areas include renewable energy technology, hy-
brid and electric vehicle technology, HVAC and refrigeration in-
cluding heat pump installation and technology, smart building
technology, electric power generation, and more. Programs offered
through our center create pathways to home ownership, help grad-
uates contribute to the 60-odd Massachusetts towns and cities that
are represented by the students we serve in this college.
Good jobs create shared prosperity. The clean energy sector cre-
ates shared prosperity for students and our families by preparing
them to become part of the skilled workforce and by helping to
make sure that the small businesses, and really all businesses,
thrive by having the talent they need to grow.
In addition, we relaunched and invested in business management
degree program that teaches students how to run and market their
own businesses. Why did we do this? Because more than 50 percent
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of our students share that they have aspirations to become small
business owners, and we want to make sure that they have the
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22
skills to fulfill their dreams and have the talent that they need to
do that.
Our Center for Energy Efficiency and the Trades received a tre-
mendous boost when Senator Markey and Senator Warren facili-
tated $800,000 in community-directed spending. A little money
goes a long way in helping to propel the flywheel. These funds
brought critical resources and infrastructure to this program so
that we were able to respond to exploding demand for talent. We
hired an additional HVAC faculty member because there is a
waitlist for that program. That program has actually doubled in
size in a few years, and now, thanks to investment, can accommo-
date up to 125 students. It is critical that we have places that train
the talent that companies need in technologies such as heat pump
installation, other forms of smart building technology.
Community-directed spending and public investment also al-
lowed us to expand career navigation services by hiring a career
navigator, to build connections between students and the hundreds
of companies that are ardently seeking employees who are trained
in green tech skills. Through professional career navigation we
guide our students into secure jobs.
We deployed infrastructure improvement in the form of software
platforms that helped us better track our students’ progress and re-
tention, and allowed those of them who are in co-ops and appren-
ticeships to securely take exams while they are off-campus. We
want our students to be able to keep their commitments to college
and keep their work schedules at the same time, and now we have
better technology modes to allow them to do that.
The most essential elements of having adequate clean energy
programming are to make sure we have community-based partner-
ships that facilitate better knowledge and awareness that the pro-
grams are available, and we have been able to achieve those aims
through partnerships with organizations such as Castle Square
Tenants Association, just across the street, unions such as IBEW,
and other community-based organizations such as Jewish Voca-
tional Services. All of those organizations have members, residents,
and program participant who are taking classes and participating
in our programming. This is very much an ecosystem, and we
would like very much to see it remain strong.
We have been able to strengthen our curriculum and respond to
the needs for local talent by making sure we have hands-on,
project-based learning, making sure we work together to enhance
student engagement and skill acquisition, while providing small
businesses and larger companies with the skilled employees they
need.
To our minds, energy efficiency and clean technology is not an
outlier in fields such as construction, building management, auto-
motive technology, and manufacturing. Rather, it is an established
imperative today. It just makes business sense.
We have excellent small business partners who partner with us
to develop curriculum and train our students. Some of these in-
clude construction firms such as Delbrook/JKS of Quincy, building
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automation company, American Energy Management, based in
Westborough, Cummings Properties of Woburn, and facility man-
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23
agement company, UG2 of Boston, and 128 Plumbing in Wakefield,
to name a few.
It is projected that Massachusetts will continue to need to grow
its local clean energy workforce. And as you heard my colleagues
share, it is also true that many companies are still saying it is too
difficult for them to find the skilled workforce they need to do the
work that they have. At Franklin Cummings Tech and our part-
ners we are working to bridge this gap and meet this demand, and
we take pride in the fact that because of the work that we do and
the industries that we are serving, enrollment has increased by 40
percent in 4 years. We know we can do our part to keep this
flywheel going and make sure we grow the workforce and place our
graduates on a pathway to working at small businesses for the bet-
terment of economic advancement and to support clean energy and
sustainability.
Funding from public sources, like what we received through com-
munity-directed spending for the clean energy programs we offer is
direly necessary. We hope and very much want this programming
and support to continue, both here and in our peer institutions,
and we will continue to produce significant return on investment
for individuals, small businesses, and the economy.
Thank you very much.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Francis follows:]
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27
Senator MARKEY. Thank you so much, Doctor. And last but, I
think kind of our capstone here, about what is possible, is Josh
Aviv, who is the Founder and CEO of Somerville-based
SparkCharge. I met Josh 7 or 8 years ago over at Greentown, when
Emily was running Greentown, and he was just in a little alley in
a booth at the time. And he was all concept, and, of course, concept
is 20 percent. Execution is 80 percent.
So he has gone from the concept to the execution quite bril-
liantly, which is really where young people are in clean tech right
now. He founded SparkCharge from his dorm room at Syracuse
University, moved over to Somerville, raised over $50 million—$50
million—from investment, including $1 million from his appearance
on Shark Tank. And he is here today to share his experience in
running a successful small business in the clean energy sector, now
not just Somerville but now nationwide.
So welcome, Josh. We are just so proud of everything you have
done.
STATEMENT OF JOSHUA AVIV, FOUNDER AND CEO,
SPARKCHARGE, SOMERVILLE, MA
Mr. AVIV. Thank you so much. I deeply appreciate it. Good morn-
ing to everyone. It is a pleasure to be here. Senator Markey, es-
teemed Committee members, and fellow participants, my name is
Josh Aviv. I am the CEO of SparkCharge, a Massachusetts-based
small business committed to building the future of electric vehicle
charging.
At SparkCharge we provide mobile, flexible charging to electric
vehicle and electric vehicle fleet, reducing the infrastructure and
downtime from 2 to 3 years to as little as 3 to 7 days, meaning that
we allow electrification to grow in an advanced and accelerated
way, without the need for costly infrastructure hurdles.
Today I am honored to discuss how Federal policies profoundly
impact not only our ability but the ability of countless other small
businesses in Massachusetts and across the nation to innovate,
grow, and lead in the clean energy economy.
First, I would like to start by talking about the impacts of tariffs.
They significantly affect businesses by increasing the cost of essen-
tial components by up to 30 percent. We have seen this firsthand
where battery components, electrical components have now sky-
rocketed in price, meaning that it becomes almost impossible for us
to go out and offer affordable EV charging to certain areas in the
EV ecosystem.
Most of which, when we think about it, batteries and electronic
equipment remain dependent on global supply chains. For small
businesses, these increased costs result in reduced competitiveness,
slower innovation, and financial strain, as we scale operations and
strive to offer affordable, clean energy solutions.
For EV companies and clean energy companies here in the
United States, we must remain competitive on a global stage. We
cannot just simply remain competitive here in the United States.
There are companies and small businesses around the world that
are trying to compete with us for the American dollar. And when
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we fail to do that, we often lose market share, and that reduces the
amount of employees we can hire, the growth that we can bring,
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28
not only to the commonwealth but businesses in areas across the
United States.
When we think about the Inflation Reduction Act, it has been
transformative for the clean energy sector and companies like ours.
Its incentives have spurred crucial investment, job creation, and
technological innovation in clean energy. Should these incentives
be removed, we would see disruption in ongoing projects, decreased
future investment, and a loss of critical momentum in our journey
towards electrification and sustainability. The elimination of the
IRA-supported incentives would increase the cost of capital signifi-
cantly, diminishing our global competitive position.
We have made so many advancements here in the United States
with small businesses coming up with innovative technology that
we want to deploy, that only help our ecosystem and bring more
jobs, and to take two steps back after we have taken a step forward
would truly be heartbreaking.
Moreover, when we think about investment in clean energy com-
panies we have amazing programs like MassCEC and Greentown
Labs. But when we also think about it, there are other funding
sources such as venture capital that also help companies grow and
develop and scale. Within the clean energy sector, venture capital
was instrumental in helping us finance research, develop and scale
operations, and expand our market research. A reduction in avail-
able venture capital funding due to changing Federal policies and
economic uncertainty would severely limit growth, stalling prom-
ising new technologies, and threatening jobs and economic progress
here in the state of Massachusetts, where venture capital has al-
ways been a part of helping companies grow and scale to a global
presence.
Manufacturing domestically here in the United States remains a
critical priority for us at SparkCharge. From day one, we said we
would never manufacture outside of the United States, and we
have been able to keep that promise. And other small businesses
here in the United States also have the yearning to manufacture
here in the United States. Local manufacturing capabilities reduce
supply chain vulnerabilities, generate quality employment opportu-
nities, and expedite the innovation cycle. Federal support through
incentives and infrastructure investments strengthens our ability
to produce competitively priced produces domestically, enhancing
business resilience and national economic security.
Additionally, the clean vehicle tax credits under current Federal
policies significantly stimulate demand for electric vehicles, directly
benefiting SparkCharge and the broader EV ecosystem. Increased
adoption rates of EVs naturally lead to heightened demand for EV
charging infrastructure solutions and also open up the opportunity
for blue-collar jobs to advance and grow.
When EV technology took off and charging stations were being
rolled out across the United States, there was a huge demand for
electricians across the United States. This demand for electricians
were able to provide jobs in countless communities around the
United States to offer good, high-paying jobs, to advance clean
technology at a rate that we had never before seen here in the
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United States. If we lose that momentum, all of those advanced
jobs, all of those jobs for electricians, trade workers that went into
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29
electrifying this country and moving this country forward could be
in jeopardy.
Lastly, tax credits like Research and Development Tax Credits,
tailored specifically for small businesses, are vital, leveling the
playing field by enabling innovative startups and small companies
like ours to invest robustly in research, workforce development,
and growth. Eliminating these credits could disproportionately bur-
den small businesses, increase operational costs, and weaken our
competitive standing relative to larger, established corporations.
In conclusion, continued Federal support through fair tariffs, sus-
tained incentives from the IRA, a robust environment for venture
capital, strengthened domestic manufacturing capabilities, stable
clean vehicle tax credits, and targeted small business tax credits
are indispensable to SparkCharge and similar innovative compa-
nies. Such supportive policies ensure small businesses remain com-
petitive, innovative, and integral in driving America’s clean energy
future.
Thank you for providing me this opportunity to testify today.
SparkCharge remains steadfast in our commitment to collaborate
with policymakers to reinforce the clean energy economy, promote
innovation, and foster sustainable, equitable growth for our com-
munities.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Aviv follows:]
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32
Senator MARKEY. Thank you. As everyone can see, this is just
such an incredible all-star panel which has gathered here to talk
about the clean energy future and the threats to it.
So Josh, President Trump, when he introduced his tariffs on 180
countries around the world, including an island that only had pen-
guins on it, it didn’t seem as though it was well thought out in
terms of what the impact was going to be, especially on small busi-
nesses in our country. So how many employees do you have now?
Mr. AVIV. We are approaching close to 40 employees across the
United States.
Senator MARKEY. Tell me what you are doing in L.A., in Cali-
fornia.
Mr. AVIV. In L.A. we are charging electric vehicles for large cor-
porations like Uber, allowing them to continue to electrify. We have
operations where we service some of the largest fleets, everyone
from food to agriculture, OEMs, ride share, last-mile delivery. We
power electric vehicles at scale.
Senator MARKEY. At scale. And how many states are you in now?
Mr. AVIV. We currently have operations across all 50 states, our
availability of operations across all 60 states here in the United
States.
Senator MARKEY. And so you would continue to need more highly
trained people, to provide these services?
Mr. AVIV. Yes, sir.
Senator MARKEY. So again, what is the impact the tariffs are
having on you right now?
Mr. AVIV. Absolutely. So the impact that tariffs are having on us
is we are starting to slow down investment in battery. We are
starting to slow down investment in, call it, more technological ad-
vances. And then we are also starting to look at are these fleets
now going to slow down their investment in electric vehicles.
So we have had to slightly start to pull back on hiring, as well.
We originally planned to grow to 50, 60-plus people this year. We
have now started to hear basically from fleets, ‘‘Well, look, we have
got to understand the impact of the tariffs. There is a lot of uncer-
tainty in the market.’’
And so if those fleets scale back and they don’t push forward to
electrification, then that inhibits our ability to grow and hire, as
well. So we have started to scale back our hiring.
We have also started to see a lot of venture capital money really
stay on the sidelines, is what I would say. We have heard from in-
vestors, ‘‘Well, depending on how this goes, depending on how the
tariffs go, depending on how policy goes, that’s how we are going
to deploy capital to new, innovative companies like yours. But we
really just want to sit back and wait and see how this plays out,
because we are just unsure.’’
So there are millions of dollars that are being basically sidelined
because of the uncertainty, not only around the tariffs but really
uncertainty around where are we moving forward as a country.
Senator MARKEY. And Mr. d’Arbeloff, are you seeing the same
thing in your industry?
Mr. D’ARBELOFF. Well, we absolutely are. I think that most solar
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companies are not eligible for venture capital. The intellectual
property component of our businesses is such that hit is not a great
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33
match. As such, cash flow is king to every solar company, and
when a solar company is forced to use that precious cash flow to
make long-term procurements to hedge against the instability we
see ahead, it really constrains the business. It really ties their
hands behind their back in terms of what can and can’t be done,
and frankly, can put the business at risk.
Senator MARKEY. So you are seeing the same thing that Josh is
seeing.
Mr. D’ARBELOFF. Absolutely.
Senator MARKEY. And so those are two good examples. But Dr.
Reichert is able to see the whole state. That is her job. So what
is happening here in this sector, Doctor, in terms of the impact tar-
iffs are having?
Ms. REICHERT. Well, I will just add to what Josh referenced a
moment ago. In terms of the young companies that we work with
across Massachusetts, we had recently tried to understand better
what impacts they are facing in this short, 100-day period where
so much has changed over and over again.
What we learned was that change is causing so much uncer-
tainty in all the ways that Josh just mentioned. Should we hire?
Should we not hire? Should we expand, or should we hold back on
that expansion? How do we think about inventory, or not have in-
ventory?
The uncertainty is the big thing that comes through the survey
results, over and over again, and that spills out into the economy.
When you are talking about clean energy jobs in Massachusetts, we
have 115,000 jobs, but we also have induced and indirect jobs that
depend on this industry. So whenever you think about, well, the
supply chain for clean energy, that instability trickles down to less
hiring, less contracts, and it has a much broader impact than on
the industry alone.
Senator MARKEY. Yeah. With much fanfare, yesterday the Presi-
dent announced that he had reached an agreement with Great
Britain on a trade deal, but it looks like it is less an agreement
than a framework to reach an agreement. And that, again, is some-
thing would only have been the first of all the agreements that he
has to reach, although he hasn’t reached an agreement, in reality,
on all of the key details.
So again, all of that just leaves an incredible cloud of uncer-
tainty, especially over the smaller companies. The big companies,
they might be able to ride it out for 6 months, ride it out for a year,
be able to make some adjustments. But for smaller companies it
becomes less ‘‘liberation day,’’ which President Trump used as a
way to describe all of his tariffs, than an ‘‘extermination day,’’ a
‘‘liquidation day’’ for so many smaller businesses who move week
to week, month to month. And they have to figure it out on an on-
going basis. They don’t have that kind of margin for survival over
a longer period of time.
So again, coming back to you, Mr. d’Arbeloff, how many compa-
nies do you represent?
Mr. D’ARBELOFF. We have about 80 members in SEBANE.
Senator MARKEY. And how many, do you think, are becoming
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more vulnerable because of these tariffs, or even the threats of the
removal of the tax break?
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34
Mr. D’ARBELOFF. I would estimate 55 of our member companies
are actually solar companies, and I do not think there is a single
one of them that is not negatively impacted by what we are seeing.
It is a very, very difficult situation. As I noted, solar is called the
‘‘solar coaster’’ for a reason. There are lots of ups and downs, and
we figure it out. There are plenty of businesses in the solar indus-
try that have failed over the years, but there have also been quite
a few who have prevailed and figured out how to ride these waves.
That said, what we are seeing today is really unprecedented in
terms of unpredictability. And so I would say that the threat is
very, very real and quite frightening.
Senator MARKEY. In 2009, when Congressman Henry Waxman
and I passed our legislation, the Waxman-Markey Bill, that passed
the House of Representatives and would have reduced greenhouse
gasses by 80 percent by the year 2050, the total installed capacity
of solar in the United States, from the beginning of time until
2009, was 2,000 megawatts. That is all we had. Last year, there
was 40,000 new megawatts of solar installed in the United States
of America.
So this has just moved dramatically with all of the incentives, all
of the states that have moved, all of the cities that have moved,
and the Federal incentives that have been placed on the books.
So it is clearly a vertical story that, of course, the natural gas
industry is frightened of because it can, in fact, substitute for nat-
ural gas-generated electricity. So now they have gone beyond say-
ing, well, solar is important, but only as a small, small portion, to
a point where, in 2024, almost all of the new installed electrical ca-
pacity in the United States just came from solar and wind and new
battery storage technologies, including another company, Form En-
ergy, which came out of Greentown, as well, which is showing that
you can have battery storage at a utility scale. And they are in
Weirton, West Virginia, now, with more than 400 employees there,
coming out of Somerville. Like Josh’s story, going national.
So all of this is absolutely an indication of how we have created
a job creation machine, and it is working, but it is a threat. It is
a threat to the oil industry, the more that all-electric vehicles are
on the road. We put 70 percent of the oil, which we consume in
America, goes into gasoline tanks, and the more that vehicles don’t
have gasoline tanks will lower the need for new oil. And the same
thing is true for the natural gas industry in terms of electrical gen-
eration. The more that solar and wind are deploying, there is less
natural gas, less number of pipelines which we are going to need.
So it is becoming, obviously, the storyline, and to the extent to
which Donald Trump said to the natural gas and oil industry, if
you raise me $1 billion, just in April of last year, I will kill the
clean energy industry. So that is where we are, and it is not any-
thing other than a policy decision that they are making. But it is
on behalf of the fossil fuel industry. It is on behalf of the legacy
industry.
And then it is coupled with a tariff policy which isn’t aimed at
anything that is rationally explainable because it doesn’t just affect
the clean energy industry, it is affecting small businesses across
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the entirety of the nation. There are 34 million small businesses in
the United States. We have 734,000 small businesses in Massachu-
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35
setts. We have 7 million people, so there is one small business for
every 10 people in the state of Massachusetts, and the number is
true for every single state in the union. It is 330 million people and
33 million small businesses. So it is a 10-to-1 ratio. And 30 percent
of all trade in our nation is done by small businesses, and they rep-
resent 97 percent of all business that do trade with other countries.
So this then becomes something that goes right to the heart of
small business in Massachusetts or across the country, the ability
to be able to plan. Again, they are not a big business. If a small
restaurant chain here in Massachusetts, trading with maybe 15 dif-
ferent countries, for different foods or products which they need in
their business, and they can’t be sure what they are going to be
having to pay in a tariff, or the supplier in the other country is ab-
solutely uncertain as to whether or not they have a reliable partner
in the United States, it casts a shadow over it, their small busi-
nesses.
So I would like to just come back to Dr. Francis for a second, be-
cause you are providing the new workers that Josh or Nick’s trade
association can use.
Ms. FRANCIS. Correct.
Senator MARKEY. And you mentioned earlier that you are
partnered with IBEW 103, the electricians’ union. Could you ex-
plain that partnership and the enthusiasm for young students, you
know, minority students, young women, to get into this field?
Ms. FRANCIS. Absolutely. So with the partnership that we have
with that particular union, members who are well established can
receive credit for the training center education that they have re-
ceived at the union and apply that credit towards an associate de-
gree here in college. So these kinds of partnerships, these alter-
native pathways to receiving the credentials that folks are looking
for, that are required to get into the field and take these jobs, is
really an important way to really bring untapped talent into the
clean tech space. And it is important for small businesses, as well,
because a lot of times the large companies have people beating
down the doors to work at their companies, and it might not nec-
essary be the same came for small businesses. So it is important
that we are also responding to the talent needs for small busi-
nesses, as well. But union partnerships are a really important part
of the ecosystem, and we are happy to be working with them.
Senator MARKEY. Yeah, and the Federal investments, they spur
new projects. They create new hubs.
Ms. FRANCIS. Absolutely.
Senator MARKEY. But many of them are union jobs, as well.
Many of the clean technology tax credits in the Inflation Reduction
Act are worth more when developers pay workers a prevailing
wage and use registered apprentices, and that is not an accident.
It is on purpose. These job standards will result in better projects,
better policies, better communities. Could you expand on that, in
terms of apprenticeship programs that your students are able to
graduate into?
Ms. FRANCIS. Yes. We have delivered work-based learning, which
essentially means that we want to make sure that students aren’t
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only learning in their classrooms and theoretically, but that they
have something that they apply that to. So projects with compa-
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36
nies, like working with [unclear] are important, and so are co-ops,
so are apprenticeships.
So we have been part of pioneering something called the appren-
ticeship degrees, which is a method whereby the traditional ap-
prenticeship has been adapted with investment from the state, and
the State Office of Labor and Workforce Development really helps
us to navigate a way in which you can pair and partner an appren-
ticeship with a college degree. And it is wonderful. It opens up all
kinds of avenues for people to get paid while they are in college.
As I shared, many of our students are very resource constrained
and people want to bring forward the opportunity to work and go
to school. And it is helpful for companies, too, so that they have the
talent pool that they need earlier and sooner, so there is less pres-
sure on people thinking that they have to do either a job or college.
You can do both at the same time.
So we have really taken the apprenticeship from the days of Ben
Franklin and modernized it. So the apprenticeship degree is some-
thing that we invest in heavily here.
Senator MARKEY. Thank you. And I think you mentioned earlier
that the student, as they graduate, starts at $60,000 a year.
Ms. FRANCIS. That is the average, yes.
Senator MARKEY. That is the average, $60,000 a year.
Dr. Reichert, could you talk about wages in the clean energy sec-
tor of Massachusetts, in general, just so people can understand how
big of an opportunity this is. Kids figure out why they should study
this subject because their buddies are telling them, this could real-
ly be a big payoff, if you get this background, made by your own
personal commitment to learning about a new industry. So what is
the status for people who work in this sector?
Ms. REICHERT. Sure. Well, many clean energy occupations cur-
rently earn hourly wages that are higher than average hourly
wages in Massachusetts, and they come with real benefits, long-
term stability, and the opportunity to build a meaningful career.
So for perspective, the statewide median hourly wage is about
$29, and in the clean energy sector we are seeing wages that far
exceed that benchmark. So for example, construction workers in
clean energy earn a median wage of $64 an hour. Electrical engi-
neers earn $60 an hour. Even roles like electricians and HVAC
technicians, which are core to decarbonizing our buildings, earn
$39 and $35 per hours, respectively, which is both well above the
statewide median as well as the national median.
Even workers who are just starting out often earn wages above
the state average. And I think Dr. Francis can tell you stories that
oftentimes it is hard to keep these students long enough through
their training because they get snapped up like that. There is real
demand for these workers, and there will continue to be as we
march towards our climate goals.
Senator MARKEY. Which is, I think, great news for young people.
And again, I just want to come back to Dr. Francis a little bit, be-
cause you talked about a partnership that you have with high
schools, to get them college credits while they are in school. I think,
is it Madison High School?
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Ms. FRANCIS. We have that partnership with Madison Park,
Dearborn STEM Academy, Cambridge Rindge and Latin. We actu-
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37
ally have 16 or 17 high schools, students from 16 or 17 high schools
taking advantage of our early college program.
Senator MARKEY. So what you do is you help to introduce young
people, as juniors or seniors in high school, into these areas.
Ms. FRANCIS. Yes, because the sooner we get them, the better.
Senator MARKEY. So they then can kind of see the future earlier.
It is kind of like parents taking their kids on college weekends, to
go see which school they might apply to.
Ms. FRANCIS. Yes.
Senator MARKEY. But what you do is you go right to the high
schools.
Ms. FRANCIS. Demystifying——
Senator MARKEY. And you say, ‘‘Here it is. This is the future.
And if you start to study a little bit harder, work on this, come to
our school, go to another school that has these particular skill sets,
it can be an incredible future.’’ Do you mention how much people
can make when you talk to the juniors and seniors in high school?
Ms. FRANCIS. It is one of the highlights of the talks that we do
in community, and it is important because people need ways to sus-
tain themselves in their communities. This is why we are doing
this work, and this is how we can incentivize folks to make an in-
vestment, a post-secondary education investment in their education
beyond high school. Because the truth is that it does still matter
to have some training beyond high school, for the time that it takes
to deal with voltage and electricity, and these are complicated
fields. And while we can push as much of that training as we can
into high school, it does still require post-secondary training.
Senator MARKEY. Right. And again, the workforce is there, ready
to go.
Ms. FRANCIS. The workforce is there.
Senator MARKEY. It is getting the training, and now we have to
make sure that the companies are there——
Ms. FRANCIS. That is right.
Senator MARKEY [continuing]. To be able to hire them. We have
to make sure that the policies reflect that.
So I want to come back again to Josh and to Nick to talk about
tax policy. We just talked about tariffs. Now let’s talk about the tax
policies, and which of these tax policies are central to ensuring that
we see the continued investment in growth in the clean energy sec-
tor.
So if you could, Josh, focus upon that area and tell us why it is
so vital.
Mr. AVIV. Absolutely. When we think about the Inflation Reduc-
tion Act, for us this is a vital policy. When we think about the
growth of EVs and clean tech and clean tech investments here in
the United States that spur job growth across the United States,
this is something that has proven to not only be successful but
helpful to not only just companies here in Massachusetts but com-
panies across the United States that are looking to further clean
tech advancements, further grow the clean tech economy.
And if that is removed, then we are really taking a serious step
backwards. We are taking a serious step backwards in job growth.
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We are taking a serious step backwards in innovation. We are tak-
ing a serious step backwards in investment. And we are really giv-
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38
ing up that advancement to outside companies, outside countries
that want to take advantage of that.
I firmly believe that the U.S. dollar is still the most powerful dol-
lar in the world, and U.S. companies are innovating and creating
innovative solutions to go after and solve problems for U.S.-based
and worldwide-based consumers. So if we lose these tax credit, if
we lose these policies, then we are really giving up the competitive
advantage, and we are losing an opportunity that I think we will
never see again.
Senator MARKEY. Never see again. Mr. d’Arbeloff.
Mr. D’ARBELOFF. Well, I think one thing I would note is that the
ITC, the Investment Tax Credit, which has for a long time been 30
percent of system price—in other words, the investor or the owner
of the system is allowed to take a 30 percent tax credit off their
tax burden in the year in which the system goes live—is absolutely
vital to driving the industry.
By the way, it is also worth noting that this perhaps wouldn’t be
necessary or anywhere near as important if fossil fuels were to be
charged for the externalities that they generate. In other words,
the damage that they do to the environment is not a burden that
they bear. They are allowed to pollute for free. And were that not
the case, were there a carbon tax, were Waxman-Markey have
come to pass, we would be in a very different situation here, where-
in something like the ITC would not be quite as critical.
But we are where we are, and the ITC drives down payback for
solar systems in a way that is just fundamental for the investment
community, and for homeowners. So for really anyone who pur-
chases a solar system or invests in a solar system, it is what gives
a level of predictability to the investment that allows all parties to
engage in the transaction and make it happen.
I think that if this were badly threatened, I hate to throw around
big words, but it would be an existential threat to the way that the
industry operates. And as you noted, solar and clean energy is now
exceeding fossil fuels in terms of new energy resources per year. I
think that if the ITC were to be pulled back in any significant fash-
ion, we would——
Senator MARKEY. For the audience, ITC is——
Mr. D’ARBELOFF. The Investment Tax Credit.
Senator MARKEY. And how is the Investment Tax Credit applied
to a small business.
Mr. D’ARBELOFF. Great question. So if you are a small business
and you put solar on the roof of your facility, then you are allowed
to, using a one-page, actually I think it is a two-page, IRS form,
you input the price of the solar system that you purchased. It then
calculates 30 percent of that system purchase price, and you are al-
lowed to deduct that from your overall tax burden. It is not a tax
deduction. You are actually taking a credit on the taxes you owe
for that year. So it is hugely valuable to the way in which solar
transactions go down, and were it removed it would be hugely
problematic.
The same is true for homeowners, by the way, where a home-
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owner can do the exact same thing. It is a different IRS form. It
is a different section of the tax code, but same exact process.
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39
Senator MARKEY. Now the interesting thing, of course, is that the
oil, gas, and coal industry have had a tax break for 100 years. So
it is not as though, as they try to call this socialistic, it is not as
though they haven’t been the biggest beneficiary of socialism, for
100 years, with their tax breaks. And then we try to put tax breaks
on the books for the competitors, and all of a sudden they are out-
raged that you could have such a system in our great country,
while not taking the tax breaks for the oil industry or the gas in-
dustry off the books, simultaneously.
So can you explain that and how troubling that is?
Mr. D’ARBELOFF. Yes. That is true. The tax breaks offered to the
fossil fuel industry are substantive and dwarf what the solar indus-
try might receive, although they are not truly visible by the con-
sumer. They are extraction tax credits, which allow for them to en-
gage in R&D activities at a substantially reduced rate than what
it would cost them directly were such tax breaks not available to
them.
So it is sort of a behind-the-scenes, behind-closed-doors tax credit
that no one really understands other than the fossil fuel companies
themselves.
Senator MARKEY. Yeah. And again, let’s go back to 2009, once
again. It is not that long ago, 15 years ago, when Waxman-Markey
was passing in the House of Representatives. And then, according
to some estimates, the largest amount of money ever spent to de-
feat any piece of legislation in congressional history was spent to
kill Waxman-Markey in the Senate. There were only 2,000 all-elec-
tric vehicles in the United States, total. There were only 2,000
megawatts of solar in the United States.
Now, coming back to Josh, in the first quarter of this year, Janu-
ary, February, and March of this year, there were 380,000 new all-
electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids sold. Electricity, plug it in.
That is like a million and a half vehicles that would be sold this
year, not 2,000 total in 2009, but an explosive increase.
So that is a big story. But the tax breaks help, right, to make
sure that all of that can—and in the same way Nick explained how
the tax breaks work, could you also explain how the tax breaks
work to incentivize people to install those charging stations?
Mr. AVIV. Absolutely. So there are tax incentives not only on in-
stalling EV charging stations but also on owning and buying an
electric vehicle. And when we think about the growth of electric ve-
hicle adoption here in the United States in the first quarter of this
year, a lot of that was driven by growth outside of what you would
say were mostly popular EV states. Back in 2009, those 2,000 vehi-
cles were most likely populated in California, right. Now, here,
2025, that growth has expanded across the United States, outside
of California, and even in more rural areas. We are starting to see
adoption happening in Texas. We are starting to see adoption hap-
pening in Ohio, in Michigan. And that is due to a lot of the tax
credits that are available to owning an electric vehicle and install
an EV charging station.
So we are seeing this massive growth that, to date, you bring up
a really good point. We grew EV charging in ’21, but I think the
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bigger headline here is that electric vehicle growth in America,
since its inception, has never taken a decrease. It has always
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grown, year over year over year. So a lot of times people will come
out and say, ‘‘Well, is electric vehicle adoption growing? Is it slow-
ing?’’ Year over year, we have never sold less electric vehicles here
in the United States.
So these tax credits, these benefits, help spur that growth, not
only on the EV side and the charging station side, but think about
the person that comes out and installs that charging station. So the
trickle-down effect is that now, as more EVs grow across the
United States, they are opening up more job growth for people to
actually earn a living off this clean energy economy.
Senator MARKEY. Thank you, Josh. Yeah, and it is not any longer
just Tesla. I think there are 78 models that can be purchased from
other companies. So back then, you know, 15 years ago, it was just
a very small number of vehicles that were being produced. But now
it is Ford, it is General Motors, it is companies around the globe
that want to build here. Yeah, Josh.
Mr. AVIV. Absolutely. And if you think about it, as well, there are
more OEMs. General Motors is doing an amazing job coming——
Senator MARKEY. OEM?
Mr. AVIV. Original manufacturer.
Senator MARKEY. Meaning General Motors and Ford.
Mr. AVIV. General Motors and Ford. Yes, sir. They are coming
out with new EVs, and they are getting better and better at price
points where people can afford them. And if we think about how
we are going to go out and scale electric vehicle adoption, there has
got to be affordable models out there. And when we think about
Tesla, who started producing electric vehicles, General Motors, who
now, I think, is almost on par, if not they are about to pass Tesla,
in electric vehicles sold. That means that the American consumer
now wants electric vehicles. It is no longer the cool thing. It is now
starting to become the economical way to travel.
So we expect to see more electric vehicle growth. And then when
we think about the adoption of fleets, as well—so fleets now adopt-
ing electric vehicles in the thousands—you are going to start to see
more electric vehicles on the road. And we need these policies in
place to continue to spur that growth and continue to bring along
that economic development and job growth.
Senator MARKEY. Yeah. And that is just so important. There is
kind of an inexorable increase and consumer satisfaction. And we
have come a long way when Donald Trump is running a car show
on the lawn of the White House, to help out his buddy, Elon, to
sell more vehicles. And Trump is going, ‘‘I might buy one of these
all-electric vehicles.’’ So he might be actually, ironically, expanding
the market rather than contracting it.
Yeah, Dr. Reichert.
Ms. REICHERT. Can I just add, in terms of impacts here in Mas-
sachusetts, we have seen a 22 percent increase in clean transpor-
tation jobs, which encompasses EVs, since 2023. And the state was
actually ranked nationally number one for the highest rate of
growth in electric jobs in 2024. So this is having real impacts here
at home, and obviously the type of tax credits that have been dis-
cussed here and those potentially not being available is going to
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cause impacts on real people’s lives, real jobs, right here in Massa-
chusetts.
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41
Senator MARKEY. And again, the way I view this is that Presi-
dent Trump is imposing tariffs without any clear plan, and putting
a cloud over businesses, but especially small businesses. He is
planning on cutting, by upwards of 40 percent, the budget for the
National Institutes of Health, which is what we would call Kendall
Square, finding the cure for Alzheimer’s and diabetes and cancer
and all the diseases which run through the genetics of people in
our country but all around the planet. And we are the leader. We
are clearly the leader in clean energy technology, as well. And
meanwhile, China is moving very rapidly in biotech. They are in-
vesting massively in biotech.
I think, Josh, I just saw last month where there is a Chinese
company that announced that they now have a battery which can
be charged in 5 minutes for a vehicle. So do we want to pull out
of the race with China and just giftwrap biotech and clean tech to
the Chinese economy, or do we want to compete? Do we want to
use our young people, you know, the Greentown, the engine, all of
our university brainpower, to compete technologically.
So what is the risk, Josh, of this retreat?
Mr. AVIV. Absolutely. And I love that example, because everyone
got excited when they showed that they could charge a car in 5
minutes. And the reality is that the technology that enabled that
to happen was actually developed here in the United States, and
it was actually demoed 5 years ago. It was nothing new. It was just
a Chinese OEM that said, ‘‘Oh look, we can do it.’’
But believe it or not, the Combined Charging Standards, CCS,
actually supports up to 1,000 kilowatts of energy that can go into
a car, so that is your 5-minute charge. It is investment that is
needed to roll out that infrastructure, that we developed here in
the United States, that we were able to prove out 5 years ago.
So, anyway, when we think about the advancement, and when
we think about other countries catching up to the United States,
the United States is still in the lead in most categories, but other
countries are like right behind us. And if we give up that lead, if
we stop investing in clean tech, if we don’t roll out the technology
that we developed, innovated, and created here in the United
States, if we don’t roll that out, if we don’t support that innovation,
then we will be surpassed. And that is just a crime against human-
ity, to be able to develop the technology here, innovate it.
You know, when we think about a lot of the solar technology, as
well, a lot of that was developed here in the United States, as well.
We innovated on that, we patented on that, and then we stopped
investing in it. And then other countries said, ‘‘Look, that is a real-
ly great patent. That’s really great technology. Let’s innovate it and
move it forward.’’
So when you have this technology that has been created here,
when you have U.S. government money that has been invested in
that technology to bring it to market, and then we pull back, really
we are just hurting ourselves. We are hurting the businesses, be-
cause we are not pushing that technology forward. We are not tak-
ing advantage. We are not reaping the benefit of the technology
that we created and that we developed here in the United States.
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So when we think about China and we think about the advances
that they are making, really we have to continue to invest in clean
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energy. We have to continue to invest in the clean energy economy.
We have to continue to invest in innovation so that we maintain
that lead and not give up our position.
Senator MARKEY. I agree with you, 100 percent. When there is
a rival coming for you, when that rival has a plan, and that rival
is energized, you have to have a plan. You have to respond. And
that is why it is so important that the Boston Celtics have a plan
tonight against the New York Knicks. They have got to come back.
They have got to have a plan. And we need the same thing in
biotech. We need the same thing in clean tech. That is the future.
Not just for Massachusetts. It is the future for our country. We are
only 5 percent of the world’s population. We have to decide what
we are going to make. We have to decide what we are going to
produce.
Yes, Dr. Francis.
Ms. FRANCIS. Senator, I just wanted to follow up on that by put-
ting a finer point on what these jobs are. So for instance, in electric
vehicle technology it does require different approaches to repair. So
we have created a program that responds to that need, because
there is a shortage of technicians who actually know how to deal
with the electricity and the voltage.
So these are the kinds of things that we are talking about. So
when you cut off the investment, you are also cutting off jobs for
people, not only in Massachusetts but in local communities, be-
cause local repair people do that work. This is not work that is
outsourced. This is work that is happening on the ground. So there
is an entire infrastructure of roles that we are going to snuff out,
and I just think people should know about that.
Senator MARKEY. Yeah. And my father graduated from the voca-
tional program at Lawrence High School, and he became, ulti-
mately, vice president of an electrical union in South Boston, UE.
He was the vice president. And one of the earliest things I can hear
from my father, as the oldest in the family, was ‘‘Eddie, whatever
you do, don’t put your finger in the socket.’’ So I was learning
about electricity very young, from my father, who focused on it.
And he could do anything with electricity.
And electricity is making a big comeback. We might have to dou-
ble the capacity over the next generation. So there is a whole new
generation, like my father, as they were starting this whole revolu-
tion, that once again will get reintroduced. But the technology is
different. It requires even more sophistication. It is computer re-
lated, in many ways. You have to have wireless devices with you
while you are trying to figure out how to do the installation, and
it requires training.
And that is where young people want to go. They are smart.
They want to move to the future. And between the tariffs and the
potential removal of tax breaks, the future has a cloud over it in
the areas where young people want to move to most ambitiously.
So it is a pretty grave threat right now, which is why I am fighting
so hard down in Washington.
Nick, did you want to add something right there, that I see you
moving in on?
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Mr. D’ARBELOFF. No, I think we have passed the point. But I do
think that we are on the verge of really solving some of the basic
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problems that were associated with renewable technology. Early
on, stones could be thrown at renewable by claiming it was inter-
mittent, and that it couldn’t power our industry and civilization be-
cause if the wind wasn’t blowing and the sun wasn’t shining.
But energy storage, as witnessed by Josh’s company and many
others, has grown and evolved by leaps and bounds, and we now
can provide renewable baseload power to industry, to homes, and
so forth. Baseload power is defined as constant, something that can
be relied upon and depended upon, day in and day out. And the
fact that we have now arrived at this incredibly critical milestone,
only to head down what I can only say is a rabbit hole, is very,
very unfortunate.
Senator MARKEY. And again, that is why I am going to be work-
ing very hard to explain to my colleagues in Washington. For ex-
ample, it is West Virginia where Form Energy is building their
manufacturing capacity. That is the future. Those are workers who
can move into a brand-new industry, not just a job but a career,
you know, manufacturing.
And by the way, Form Energy, also a Greentown firm, you keep
hearing about lithium-ion and do we have enough lithium-ion here
in the United States. Well, what they did, brilliantly, over at Form
Energy, was they figured out how to use iron and oxygen, in other
words, two of the most common elements, to be able to produce this
incredible, utility-scale battery technology, which is being manufac-
tured in West Virginia.
So 80 percent of all of the jobs created in the climate bill are in
red states. They are the ones manufacturing the batteries. They
are the ones manufacturing the solar panels. They are the ones
manufacturing these new vehicles, disproportionately.
And you have installation jobs, though, and there are way more
jobs in installation than there are in even the manufacture. And
that is where we are. We innovate, we come up with those innova-
tion jobs. That is Greentown. And there are a lot of jobs that we
get from the innovation. There are many more jobs that are being
created out of the bill down in the red states and the purple states.
And, on top of that, once they manufacture it we can then hire elec-
tricians. We can hire roofers to go up and do the work. And we
need to train a whole new generation of young people to go into
doing that. That is the whole system. It is inventors and investors.
It is professors and producers. We provide part of it; other states
provide part of it. And when you put it all together it is called fu-
ture economy.
And again, I am going to keep coming back to the same thing is
true for biotech. It is absolutely essential to job creation in the fu-
ture, but also solving the problems of the diseases that have af-
flicted humankind forever, or climate change, which is a cumu-
lative problem over generations, that also needs a technological so-
lution. But it is going to require jobs to be created in order to solve
those problems.
So what I would like to do with this incredible panel—has this
been a great panel? Can we give them applause for the incredible
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job that they have done?
[Applause.]
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44
Senator MARKEY. So what I would like to do is give each one of
you 1 minute to tell everyone who is watching across the country
what it is you want them to remember from this hearing. What is
most important for them to keep in their minds over these next
several months, as we are talking about tariffs, talking about
changes in tax policy, and what the implications can be.
And maybe we will go in reverse order of the opening statement,
and if you wouldn’t mind, Josh, we will begin with you.
Mr. AVIV. Absolutely. So just want to say thank you to everyone
for coming out, and thank you, Mr. Markey, for allowing us to
present here today.
I will keep mine short and sweet. Investment in clean tech, in-
vestment in the clean energy economy is an investment in job
growth. It is an investment in the economy. It is an investment in
economic growth, not only here in Massachusetts but across the
United States. And so I think as we continue the conversation
around electric vehicles, as we continue the conversation around
clean tech, as we continue the conversation around biotech, when
we think about those industries and we think about those par-
ticular topics, at the end of the day an investment in those areas
is an investment in jobs. It is an investment in growing our econ-
omy. And if you like jobs, if you want to grow jobs here in the com-
monwealth, we should continue to invest in those areas.
At SparkCharge we are proud that we are here. We are based
in Somerville, Massachusetts. We plan on staying in Somerville,
Massachusetts. We plan on continuing to grow here in the state of
Massachusetts, and continue to help with innovative ways to grow
the electric vehicle industry at a faster pace across the United
States.
Thank you so much for listening to what we have to say, and we
are excited to work with everybody as we continue to push this in-
dustry forward.
Senator MARKEY. Thank you. Dr. Francis.
Ms. FRANCIS. Yes. Thank you again for the opportunity to share
why post-secondary education matters. I would hope that the peo-
ple who are listening can understand that investment in training
and education beyond high school remains important and that pol-
icy impacts people. I hope that people resist the urge to think that
none of this matters and to be overwhelmed by the pace of change,
and to really think about the fact that a mission like ours, which
is to deliver transformative technical and trade education that
leads to economic advancement requires a thriving economy in
order to work, and that small businesses are where 80 percent of
our students find their jobs.
So anything that threatens small business, any policies that
threaten education sector really threatens people. So that would be
my last message. Thank you for the opportunity.
Senator MARKEY. And thank you, Doctor, and again, my father,
he could do things easily that I couldn’t even imagine to do, as a
boy or even today. It is a skill set.
Ms. FRANCIS. It is.
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Senator MARKEY. It is a gift. People have this technological abil-
ity go to in and see a problem, and to solve it, and that is what
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45
you are doing every day here, giving young people the ability to go
and do that, and then get a high-paid job.
Ms. FRANCIS. Absolutely.
Senator MARKEY. So we thank you for that. Mr. d’Arbeloff.
Mr. D’ARBELOFF. Thank you, Senator. I am going to be ambitious
and a little wonky with my final minutes.
Unfortunately, we are in an age of extreme whether due to cli-
mate change, and I think the solar small businesses that are mem-
bers of our organization are a critical component of helping us lit-
erally weather the storms ahead. I think that the notion of having
solar on your house or small business, in conjunction with storage,
allows you to obtain a level of resiliency which is really, really im-
portant.
I would also say that lots of folks have accused the solar industry
of being subsidized, to the disadvantage of other rate payers who
don’t go solar. And I want to point out that solar plays a critical
role in actually lowering rates for all rate payers. The way it
works—and this is wonky—at what is called ISO New England,
that manages our grid, if a number of different generators all bid
in their source of energy, the last generator in, the highest rate
sets the price for all generators. If you can knock out the peaker
plants, if you can knock out——
Senator MARKEY. If you can knock out——
Mr. D’ARBELOFF. If we are all generators, and Senator, by some
strange turn of fate you are a natural gas peaker plant, charg-
ing——
Senator MARKEY. What do you mean by peaker? What do you
mean by peaker?
Mr. D’ARBELOFF. Peaker plant says when the grid is peaking,
when the grid is at or near capacity——
Senator MARKEY. You mean, when it is a 100-degree day out.
Mr. D’ARBELOFF. Exactly.
Senator MARKEY. Okay, yeah.
Mr. D’ARBELOFF. And the grid needs more generators, there are
power plants that are designed to run for 20 hours a year and get
paid very handsomely for it. If you can say, hey, peaker plant——
Senator MARKEY. Meaning that it is only going to be 100 degrees
for 20 days a year, but you have got to pay the highest single price
just to keep it going, and it happens all year long. So what happens
under our new regime?
Mr. D’ARBELOFF. If there is a large installed base of solar, and
that installed base of solar grows and grows and grows, and what
it means is Senator Markey’s natural gas peaker plant is no longer
necessary, we can bid him goodbye. His 25 cent per kilowatt energy
is no longer necessary——
Senator MARKEY. And how many——
Mr. D’ARBELOFF [continuing]. In at 16 cents.
Senator MARKEY. 16 cents.
Mr. D’ARBELOFF. And we just saved 9 cents per kilowatt hour for
every rate payer in the region. And that is just a small example
and the type of wonky stuff that never gets publicized, and it is
critical to how clean energy is really going to be a wonderful influ-
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ence and a critical cog in how we manage our civilization, moving
forward.
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46
Senator MARKEY. Thank you. Dr. Reichert.
Ms. REICHERT. Well, thank you for inviting me and my col-
leagues here to testify. I think this has been a very important con-
versation, and thank you for giving me the chance to take it home.
I want to say to the audience that this is really about commu-
nities. This is about people. This is about jobs and livelihoods. It
is about the uncertainty that exists now at the Federal policy level,
creating uncertainty in the lives of students who are going to need
a job and not sure if their training matches up with what jobs are
going to be available. It is uncertainty in the future of small busi-
nesses who might have made investments that now are in question.
And it is uncertainty in everyone who has bills to pay, if you are
a clean energy worker and you don’t know that your job is going
to continue. These are real impacts on real people’s lives.
You know, you talked about installation jobs in other parts of the
country, and that is absolutely true. But there are clean energy in-
stallation, maintenance, and construction jobs. That is actually one
of the top three sets of jobs that exists in the Massachusetts clean
energy sector, as well.
Senator MARKEY. Can you say that again?
Ms. REICHERT. One of the top three parts of the clean energy jobs
in Massachusetts are installation, maintenance, and construction
jobs.
So these are local jobs. These are jobs that are paying the bills
for real people who are living here, working here every day, and
depending on the future of clean energy in Massachusetts and the
entire country.
Senator MARKEY. Thank you. So I think Dr. Reichert has put her
finger on it. You can’t outsource a job where someone has to get
up on the roof and do that work. You can’t outsource a job where
someone has to figure out how to install the charging station in
somebody’s garage or somebody’s business. That has to happen
right here, with American workers, trained here at Franklin Cum-
mings. Yes, we have to do that right here. The Chinese can’t do it
for us. It requires American workers to do it.
But we need the technologies to be installed. We need the work-
ers to have a place to go to be hired, and we have people here who
want to hire them. They are ready to go. They are ready to employ
a whole new generation of workers.
And so I think what we heard today was that President Trump’s
tariff policies are a real threat to especially the small businesses
in the clean energy sector, but to the clean energy sector, in gen-
eral. No question about it.
A repeal of tax incentives would also be an incredible threat to
this burgeoning industry, creating jobs on a massive basis. The
numbers, since 2022, when the IRA, the largest climate bill in his-
tory, passed, is that it has already created 400,000 new jobs in
America and $400 billion worth of private sector investment. That
is just in 2 1/2 years. So it is working.
But it is even more than that, even more than the tariffs. It is
even more than the attempt to repeal the tax breaks, which again,
is counterintuitive if you are in the red states, where 80 percent
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of the new jobs have been created. That really doesn’t make any
economic sense that you have a future, and as Dr. Reichert said at
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47
the beginning, for an industry that is going to continue. But we
will just get a smaller percentage of it as each year goes by.
But it is more than that. It is also a direct attack upon that sec-
tor which is already working, which is the offshore wind industry.
So right off our coastline we have the same winds that moved the
Pilgrims towards our shores, that were used by the whaling indus-
try to create the first energy industry, whale oil. But now that
same wind can produce electricity that we plug into, Barnstable, or
Fall River, or Salem, and fuel our homes and fuel our industries
right now.
Donald Trump has announced that he is going to try to end the
entire offshore wind industry. And why would he do something like
that when Vineyard Wind is within months of opening up 800
megawatts of electricity to come right into the Massachusetts econ-
omy, essentially replacing the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant. And it
is pretty clear because otherwise we would have to have more nat-
ural gas, natural gas that would be coming in from fossil fuel
states, when we would be able to use our own indigenous power.
So Donald Trump not only is now talking about the tariffs and
the removal of the tax breaks, but also a direct attack through his
Department of Interior and Energy on an industry which was going
to produce 3,000, or 4,000, or 5,000, or 6,000 new megawatts of
electricity which would just come in from offshore.
And it is all for the benefit of the incumbent industries, because
they are afraid of the new industries that can replace them. And
especially for places like New England, where God didn’t bless us
with any oil or gas or coal. But now we can use our own indigenous
energy resources, and that is a threat to the natural gas industry,
in the same way that Josh’s technology is a threat to the oil indus-
try, and putting gasoline into the tanks of the vehicles which we
drive forever. We wouldn’t have to do that.
So this is an important defining moment in our country’s history,
whether it be biotech or clean tech. We have a clear vision for
where the next generation of young people, young people who are
leading us, want to go, want to take us, the industries where they
want to work.
I can’t thank our witnesses enough. And I am also going to be
releasing today a report that I have asked my great staff to put to-
gether, and the title of the report is, ‘‘Pulling the Plug: How
Trump’s Attacks on Clean Energy Could Turn Out the Lights for
Small Business.’’ And I am going to be releasing this report today,
as the Ranking Member of the Small Business Committee, and it
will go on here in some detail about what the impacts will be of
the Trump policies.
So again, with that I can’t thank our incredible panel enough for
your expert testimony today, and we thank anyone who is here for
their participation.
The record will be open for 2 weeks for anyone who would like
to submit any comments or questions to the panel. We thank all
of you for participating, and with that this hearing is adjourned.
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Thank you all so much.
[Whereupon, at 11:49 a.m., the hearing was adjourned.]
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