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RALEIGH – Federal initiatives and stimulus money are helping to fuel the growth of the green industry.

Southern Energy has grown from a two-person operation out of a living room back in 2001 to a 50-person sustainable energy company. They’ve also been able to add jobs in the midst of an economic recession.

“We're starting to see an upward trend right now, and we see some new, larger projects that we'll announce in the near future,” said Blair Kendall with Southern Energy. “And with those, we're going to start hiring again, and we see adding probably another 20 or 30 employees next year."

But as the growth comes, green companies like them need a trained pool of potential employees. At N.C. State’s Solar Center, they’ve seen a huge jump in interest for the training programs they have for green jobs.

The center provides training on how to install solar water heaters or solar panels. It’s director says there’s also a need for those with expertise in business and other fields.

"And that's a big piece of the puzzle; just getting people in the existing jobs, whether it's electricians and plumbers or even real estate agents and construction trade folks that are building these buildings, to get them to understand how these renewable energy systems and the energy efficiency systems fit into what they're already doing,” said Steve Kalland, N.C. Solar Center director.

Universities and community colleges are working to train and retrain workers for the green jobs. But they say experience is also key.

"I think there's a lot of opportunity, as an emerging industry though, that many of the positions aren't as well-defined as people would like,” said Kendal. “So, I think the trick is to get into the industry and grow with the industry."