Q&A With Mark Durrenberger Of New England Clean Energy
Matt Volpini
Durrenberger
As an engineer, Mark Durrenberger has plied his craft in the nuclear energy and information technology fields. When he formed New England Breeze Solar — later renaming it New England Clean Energy — he engineered the formation of a new business in a relatively new industry: solar installation. His efforts in growing the business earned him Business Leader of the Year honors (for small businesses and entrepreneurs) in 2012 from the Worcester Business Journal.
Since you launched your company, the solar installation field has mushroomed. Is there a clear “first-mover advantage” in your industry?
I think there was an advantage for being out there early. Though some of the more deep-pocket transplants overcome that by marketing a lot, spending a lot of marketing dollars.
What do you mean by transplants?
We have companies that are originally based in Hawaii that are doing solar (here in Massachusetts). (They also come from) California, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Maryland ... because the incentives are good.
People have been talking about harnessing the power of the sun since at least the 1970s. What has been the biggest difference in its reaching such a high profile today?
Massachusetts made a commitment to make us less dependent on out-of-state energy, so it created a bunch of great incentives to drive solar. And on top of that, the prices have come down fairly dramatically.
Solar energy is not without its critics, especially those who criticize its intermittency. What would you say to those critics?
They should start looking at countries like Germany, where they’re covering quite a large portion of their load with renewables; not just solar but solar and wind. And they recently had a weekend in which they covered something on the order of 60 percent of their load with an “intermittent” energy source.
Your company has grown since its launch. How do you assimilate new people so that they feel both welcome and that they’re contributing to the mission?
We’re fairly selective about who we hire. We bring in people that we feel can contribute right away. We’re very much a family-like organization here; we understand what’s going on outside of the office, so we try to rock and roll with life. We train as we go. There’s a lot of stuff to learn. Even me. On a regular basis I’m picking up something new and different, and I’ve been doing this for seven years now.
What inspired you to launch your own business?
The first (business) was me traveling a lot as a consultant and I got tired of doing that. So I said, “I need to stop this.” And I interviewed with a couple of corporations and said “Nah, I’m not going back to the corporate world.” And my background, my interests, both in energy and in climate change, the light finally dawned and I said “Gee, I might as well do something related to what I went to school for, and make a difference for the planet, and hopefully keep it local,” so I don’t have to travel a lot.
What’s the most important advice you would give to a would-be entrepreneur?
Don’t be afraid to hire someone who’s a lot smarter than you. And be open to good ideas.
You worked at a nuclear power plant. What’s your take on the future of that source of energy, especially in light of the pending closing of Vermont Yankee?
I think the nuclear industry has some serious challenges ahead. I’d like to see them get their act together, but unfortunately, I think sometimes capitalism takes over where sanity should prevail and they try to run these plants beyond their useful life because of the almighty dollar, and that puts more people at risk.
This interview was conducted and edited for length by Rick Saia
Worcester Business Journal Staff Writer
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Shop Talk - Mark Durrenburger, New England Clean Energy
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