For Sacramento, the light at the end of the economic tunnel may be green.

The largest solar-panel factory on the continent is taking shape in McClellan Park. Economic development officials say more than half the companies checking out the region are in clean-tech. And state government is rolling out the nation's most ambitious energy-efficiency and renewable power programs, making it a huge potential ally – and customer – for the green economy.

"We think the environment is perfect," said Cheryl Beninga, managing director of American River Ventures, a $100 million private-equity fund in Roseville.

Barack Obama's election win has added to the excitement. During the presidential campaign, Obama pledged to spend $150 billion over 10 years to create 5 million green jobs, and green-tech investment looks to be one of the pillars of the economic stimulus package he's been promoting over the last week.

Green technologies reach from solar cells and biofuels to ultra-efficient lights and vehicles and more. The sector is an appealing engine for growth because it promises to generate a wide range of jobs – from manufacturing and construction to engineering and finance – while reducing pollution, trimming waste and cutting fossil fuel consumption.

Sacramento already has a promising foothold in several green industries. But the region has missed opportunities in tech booms past – from software to biotech – and there's reason to be skeptical this time, too.

The capital area's green business sector is still small, employing perhaps 1,500 people. Local sources of venture capital are scarce. And it's tough to grow a business of any kind in today's economic climate.

Still, many say Sacramento is holding an ace: state government.

Through regulations, incentives and purchasing decisions, the state will define the market for green technology in a way it hasn't in previous tech booms, said Andrew Hargadon, a former Apple product designer who's now a professor of business and head of the renowned Energy Efficiency Center at the University of California, Davis.

"The reality of the marketplace is that most energy consumption is driven by public sector policies and customers," he said.

"Fundamentally, startups in the energy sector are facing a completely different environment than startups in Silicon Valley have faced over the last 30 to 40 years."

In addition, the state's giant employee-pension funds, headquartered in Sacramento, are already key green investors.

Those central roles for state government should make the capital area attractive to both entrepreneurs looking to start companies and established firms in expansion mode.

Bob Burris, deputy director of the Sacramento Area Commerce & Trade Organization, said he has recently been swamped with inquiries from German, Spanish and Dutch solar-power companies looking to open shop in the area.

"A lot of the influence in the industry comes from the Sacramento region," said Brian Lynch, spokesman for Germany's Schott Solar, a major solar-panel maker, which runs its U.S. sales and marketing operations out of Roseville.

The Sacramento Municipal Utility District built one of the world's first large-scale solar power plants in 1984 on the site of its now-mothballed Rancho Seco nuclear power plant. Today, California is by far the largest market in the nation for solar power, with the industry growing at 35 percent a year since 2005, according to a recent state report. New federal tax incentives for both businesses and homes appear likely to fuel even faster growth.

Proximity to the Capitol was one reason Hayward-based startup OptiSolar Inc. decided earlier this year to develop its mammoth solar-panel factory here, said company spokesman Alan Bernheimer. A $20 million tax incentive from Sacramento County and the availability of nearly 1 million square feet of industrial space also helped.

OptiSolar already has about 200 people working at the site and plans eventually to employ as many as 1,000. The company is transforming aging Air Force warehouses into high-tech assembly lines. Bundles of electrical conduits and stainless-steel pipes snake through the building, and air-conditioning units the size of tractor-trailers loom on the roof.

Call The Bee's Jim Downing, (916) 321-1065.