With its large, highly-educated workforce, strategic location, low business costs and clean energy initiative, Missouri is perfectly positioned to take advantage of advances in alternative energy in the wind, solar, and biofuel sectors. Missouri is also home to many successful companies involved in energy generation, such as Ameren Corporation, Associated Electric Cooperative, Inc., Empire District Electric Co., and Kansas City Power & Light.

• Missouri has the 9th best transportation network in the nation based on value of goods shipped by air, land and water, the availability of air travel, and the quality of roads (CNBC).
• Missouri is located within 600 miles of 52% of U.S. manufacturing establishments.
• Missouri is located within 600 miles of 51% of all U.S. households.
• Missouri provides easy access to major OEMs such as Acciona, Nordex, Mitsubishi, and Siemens.
• The top 20 states for existing wind capacity include Missouri as well as 4 of its neighboring states. Missouri and surrounding states have a combined existing capacity of 8,313 MW, more than 23% of the U.S. total current wind power capacity.

• A recent report by Brookings ranked Missouri 16th overall for renewable energy jobs, 6th for solar photovoltaic jobs in 2010, 8th for growth of solar thermal jobs from 2003-2010, 7th for growth in wind jobs from 2003-2010, and 8th for jobs in biomass/biofuels in 2010.
• Missouri colleges and universities grant over 3,300 BS degrees in engineering or engineering technology annually (Missouri Department of Higher Education).
• There are over 21,000 engineers employed in Missouri according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
• Missouri's workforce exceeds the populations of 19 other states, including neighboring Kansas, Arkansas, and Nebraska.
• 12%, or 318,650 of Missourii's 2.67 million workers are employed in occupations relevant to the Energy Solutions industry.

• Missouri’s Clean Energy Initiative requires that utility companies increase usage of renewable energy to 15% by 2021. The standard also requires that .3% of retail electricity sales must come from solar electricity. Missouri is one of only 14 states with a provision for solar electricity.
• Missouri recently passed Property Assessed  Clean Energy (PACE) legislation allowing property owners to finance renewable energy retrofits over 20 years though an annual assessment on their property tax bill.
• In 2007 Missouri passed a net metering act, streamlining the interconnection and tariff process for solar projects
• Rockport, MO was the first 100 percent wind powered community in the U.S.
• Kansas City Power & Light Company, a subsidiary of Great Plains Energy Incorporated and headquartered in Kansas City, Mo., announced in 2009 that it had issued requests for proposals to add up to 300 MW of additional emissions-free, renewable wind generation in the 2010 – 2011 timeframe. Additionally, KCP&L and its partners are demonstrating an end-to-end Smart Grid that includes advanced generation, distribution, and customer technologies. Co-located renewable energy sources, such as solar and other parallel generation, will be placed in the demonstration area and will feed into the energy grid. The demonstration area consists of ten circuits served by one substation across two square miles with 14,000 commercial and residential customers.
• Ameren Corp. recently installed five solar power systems capable of generating about 100 kilowatts of power at its headquarters building. Three solar technology types — polycrystalline, monocrystalline and thin film — and a tracking system are installed on the rooftop. The systems include solar modules that contain solar cells, or panel semiconductors made of conductive materials. The goal of the project is to provide a state-of-the-art testing ground to compare various solar technologies, helping Ameren's customers determine which photovoltaic components will best suit their home or business needs.  1.2 MWs of solar generation has been installed by Ameren’s customers and is operational; including the 100 kW installation at their headquarters. 
• The St. Louis Housing Authority recently finished installing more than 2,000 solar panels to create about 800 Megawatt-Hours (800MWh) of energy per year, enough electricity to power more than 70 homes. Sunwheel Energy Partners, an affiliate of McCormack Baron Salazar, owns the over 600 kW project. St Louis-based Microgrid Energy was the owner's agent. The total cost of project is $10.4 million, with $5.1 million being supplied by stimulus funds from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. 
• Columbia, MO started a solar utility in 2008 called 'Solar One,'  which has a goal of producing 1%  of Columbia's  electric needs from local solar production by 2023.  ‘Solar One’ presently has 37 kW of installed arrays. Customers can voluntarily purchase solar energy by subscribing to the program.  17 kW of the solar energy generated for ‘Solar One ‘ is from panels provided by Dow Chemical.  This includes solar power generated by their POWERHOUSE Solar Shingles that are in development.  20 KW of solar is being purchased by the City via purchase power agreements with 15 kW from Frito-Lay and 5 kW from Bright City Lights.  Columbia's demonstrated interest in local solar has allowed the utility to expand the program to other subscribers and reduce the cost to participants.  In December of 2010, the City of Columbia entered into a solar lease agreement with Free Power Corporation which will result in the largest installation of distributed solar in the Midwest.

• Missouri's existing wind power capacity is 459 MW, ranked 20th in the U.S. (AWEA).
• Missouri’s potential wind power capacity is 5,960 MW, ranked 20th in the U.S. (AWEA).
• Missouri has the 14th highest average U.S. wind speed (10.1 mph), higher than Texas, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, and California (State Rankings 2011). 

• Missouri ranks 4th for optimal solar energy deployment according to an Arizona State University study.
• Missouri’s solar resources, between 4.5 and 5.0 kilowatt-hours per square meter per day, exceed that of Germany, which leads the world in solar energy production and averages under 3 kilowatt-hours per square meter per day (National Renewable Energy Laboratory).
• Devoting just 1 square mile in Missouri to solar power can provide enough electricity for about 1,100 households per year (National Wildlife Federation). 

• Standing timber resources from Missouri’s 13+ million acres of commercial forestlands hold the largest single reserve of biomass materials in the state. The largest source of potential biomass energy is from Conservation Reserve Acreage represented by switchgrass (36%). This is followed by timber harvest residues (30%). Crop residues (including cotton gin waste and fescue seed processing wastes) are another major source of biomass and constitute about 17% of the total.
• Missouri has 6 ethanol plants in operation with a combined capacity of 283.5 million gallons per year (Missouri Department of Natural Resources).
• Missouri has 8 biodiesel plants in operation or planned with a combined capacity of 202 million gallons per year (Missouri Department of Natural Resources).
• In January 2010, a consortium led by the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis was the winner of a $44 million Recovery Act award for research into converting algae into biofuels.
• Research at the University of Missouri gave birth to the soy-based biodiesel industry.
• Missouri is home to one of the Department of energy's 12 pilot-stage biomass projects, ICM's Cellulosic Biorefinery in St. Joseph. ICM is applying biochemical conversion technologies to turn corn fiber, switchgrass, and energy sorghum into fuel-grade ethanol.
• The Show Me Energy Cooperative was the first biomass conversion facility that became qualified under BCAP, a 2008 Farm Bill Program, according to the USDA. The conversion facility produces fuel pellets from agricultural waste products, heating houses and livestock facilities, but Cooperative CEO Kurt Herman hopes to expand production beyond pellets to cellulosic liquid fuels.

Missouri Energy Solutions industry related companies include:

3M- (Columbia) The 3M facility in Columbia makes Ultra Barrier Solar Film for solar cells. The film reduces the weight of the panels, and also can lower costs for manufacturers.

Abengoa Bioenergy Corp.: (St. Louis) Abengoa Bioenergy is one of the nation’s largest producers of ethanol.

BZ Products: (St. Louis) BZ Products is a manufacturer of MPP and conventional solar charge controls.

Emerson Electric Co.: (HQ St. Louis)   Emerson is a major manufacturer of wind turbine components including Leroy-Somer generators, SSB Wind Systems’ positioning drives, Jaure couplings, and Emerson Process Management monitoring and control systems to optimize wind farms. Emerson’s Leroy-Somer division was one of the first manufacturers of generators for wind turbines and now makes generators up to 5 MW as well as a range of control motors for the wind industry.  They supply generators and other technology to wind turbine manufacturers in Europe, North America, and Asia.  Leroy-Somer has a network of global plants including their new Fuzhou, China facility which supplies three of China’s largest wind turbine manufacturers. Emerson also manufactures inverters for the solar industry. Emerson is supplying power inverters and controls for what will be California’s largest photovoltaic power generation plant and one of the largest in the world.

Hubbell Power Systems- (Centralia) Hubbell Power Systems (HPS) manufacturers a wide variety of transmission, distribution, substation, OEM and telecommunications products used by utilities in addition to solar helical foundations.  

Kokam America Inc.: (Kansas City) Kokam America manufactures lithium batteries and related products such as battery chargers, battery management systems, and battery packing.

MEMC Electronic Materials Inc. : (HQ St. Louis) MEMC is a global leader in the manufacture and sale of wafers and related products to the semiconductor and solar industries. MEMC recently bought SunEdison, the largest operator of solar power plants in North America, and Solacx, a California-based solar tech company. In February 2011 Samsung Fine Chemicals and MEMC announced plans to build a 50/50-Joint Venture in Ulsan, South-Korea to produce polysilicon. The plant will have an initial capacity of 10,000 tons per annum. In August of 2011, MEMC announced plans to buy the privately held U.S. subsidiary of solar power plant developer Fotowatio Renewable Ventures.

MidAmerica Solar LLC- (Imperial) MidAmerica Solar developed the Twain Technology Lighting System, a street light powered solely by wind and solar energy. It is completely sustainable and off-grid and can be placed almost anywhere. 

Milbank Manufacturing- (Kansas City) In July 2011, Milbank announced plans to invest $2.7 million to set up new production lines for renewable energy products, primarily to help integrate power sources such as wind, solar, water, generators and power management.

Nordic WindPower: In December 2010, Nordic Windpower, a turbine technology manufacturer, announced plans to relocate its operations and create more than 200 jobs in Kansas City.

Peabody Energy: (HQ St. Louis) Peabody Energy is the world's largest private-sector coal company, with 2008 sales of 255 million tons and $6.6 billion in revenues.

Phycal: (St. Louis) Phycal's algae biotechnology laboratory at the BioResearch and Development Growth Park (BRDG) at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, won a $24.2 million federal research grant in August 2010. Phycal researches how to develop a production system for growing algae and extracting an energy product, primarily algal oil. This oil can be converted into biodiesel, drop-in “green” replacements for diesel and jet fuel, fuel oil blends, and other products.

Solutia: (HQ St. Louis) The company has three business units that provide critical components for use in the solar energy market including: encapsulants for solar modules, heat transfer fluids for concentrated solar power plants and PV film coatings.

VestFiber: In December 2010, Vest-Fiber, a supplier of fiberglass products and services primarily to the wind turbine industry headquartered in Denmark, announced that Moberly, Mo. will be the location of a new manufacturing facility. The company’s capital investment of $2 million will create 50 new local jobs.

Watlow- (HQ St. Louis) Watlow manufactures a broad range of heaters, sensors, and controllers specifically for use in the photovoltaic cell and module manufacturing industry.

Wind Capital Group: (HQ St. Louis) Wind Capital is a wind farm developer headquartered in St. Louis which has developed and sold 600 MW of wind farms and built another 160 MW in partnership with John Deere. 

Zoltek: (HQ St. Louis) Zoltek supplies carbon fiber to wind industry manufacturers like DeWind Inc., Vestas Wind Systems, and Gamesa Eolica.

Nine Missouri colleges offer Precision Metal training courses or Associate degrees.  Eleven Missouri universities offer Bachelor of Science or higher degrees in Engineering. Crowder College (Neosho) offers an Associate of Arts degree in Alternative Energy with three focus areas: biofuels, solar, and wind. Missouri is also home to the following energy industry related research centers:

The International Center for Advanced Renewable Energy and Sustainability at Washington University in St. Louis (I-CARES): I-CARES was created in June 2007 to encourage and coordinate University-wide and external collaborative research on energy, environment, and sustainability that cannot be done by single investigators or by single disciplines alone. I-CARES fosters research on: the development and production of biofuels from plant and microbial systems; the exploration of sustainable alternative energy; and the exploration of environmental systems and practices.

Missouri University of Science & Technology Energy Research and Development Center: (Rolla) The Energy Research and Development Center's mission is to "educate students in energy topics, solve energy-related problems of society, deliver solutions for energy-related issues, increase the visibility of energy issues, and form collaborative relationships with university scientists, engineers, outside industrialists, and policy makers to prioritize, address, and resolve key energy-related issues." One of the Center's current initiatives is the Renewable Energy Demonstration Project, which consists of a grid inter-tie wind turbine system and a grid inter-tie photovoltaic array system with solar panels.

University of Missouri-Columbia Center for Sustainable Energy:  The Center for Sustainable Energy was launched to support and coordinate research, education and commercialization of renewable energy sources.