How Does Renewable Energy Help Job Creation?
Renewable energy comes from naturally replenishing sources like sunlight, wind, water, and geothermal heat. It includes technologies like solar photovoltaics, wind turbines, hydroelectric power, and biofuels. Renewable energy is increasingly important for job creation for several reasons:
First, renewable energy is one of the fastest growing industries globally. Investment and deployment of renewables continues to accelerate, driven by falling technology costs, supportive policies, and increased competitiveness with fossil fuels. This rapid growth creates demand for manufacturing, installation, operations, and other jobs related to renewables.
Second, renewable energy tends to be more labor intensive than fossil fuel energy. Per unit of energy produced, renewables like wind and solar require more workers in areas like manufacturing, construction, and operations. This translates into more jobs as renewable energy expands its share of overall energy production.
Third, renewable energy creates jobs throughout the economy, not just in the energy sector. It stimulates job growth in industries like transportation, finance, consulting, and IT that support the renewable energy supply chain. Renewables also create induced jobs when energy sector workers spend their wages, generating local economic activity.
Growth of Renewable Energy
The renewable energy industry is experiencing rapid growth globally. According to Deloitte, global renewable power capacity is expected to increase by over 60% between 2020 and 2026, reaching over 4,000 GW (Deloitte, 2022).
Solar and wind power are seeing especially strong growth. Solar PV capacity could quadruple between 2020 and 2030 based on current projections, with annual additions reaching over 180 GW by 2030, up from about 115 GW in 2021 (IEA, 2022). Global wind power capacity is estimated to nearly double from 2020 levels by 2026, exceeding 1,000 GW (Deloitte, 2022).
What’s driving this growth? Falling technology costs, government incentives and mandates, and increased competitiveness with fossil fuels. Renewables are now the cheapest form of new electricity generation in most major markets (McKinsey, 2022). As costs continue to decrease and deployment expands, renewable energy’s growth trajectory looks very promising this decade and beyond.
Manufacturing Jobs
The renewable energy industry has created hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs in the production of components like wind turbines, solar panels, and batteries. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, the wind industry alone employs over 25,000 workers in more than 500 domestic factories as of 2020. Major wind turbine components like towers, blades, and nacelles require advanced manufacturing capabilities and skilled labor. The rapid growth of the wind industry and demand for larger and more efficient turbines is driving major expansions of manufacturing facilities by firms like Vestas, GE Renewable Energy, and Siemens Gamesa.
The solar manufacturing industry employs over 230,000 workers in the U.S. as of 2019, according to The Solar Foundation’s National Solar Jobs Census. Jobs are concentrated in the production of solar panels, racking systems, inverters, and other system components. Major solar manufacturing companies include First Solar, JinkoSolar, Hanwha Q CELLS, and SunPower. State and federal incentives for domestic solar manufacturing, along with anti-dumping tariffs on imported panels from Asia, have helped drive investments in new and expanded solar factories in states like Florida, Alabama, and Tennessee.
Batteries provide essential storage to enable growth in renewable power generation. Rising electric vehicle use and grid-scale energy storage projects are fueling strong demand for lithium-ion batteries. Major battery manufacturers and suppliers like LG Energy Solution, Panasonic, and Tesla are dramatically scaling up U.S. production capacity. This is generating thousands of advanced battery manufacturing jobs in states like Nevada, North Carolina, and New York.
Installation Jobs
The growth in renewable energy is creating many jobs related to installing solar panels, wind turbines, geothermal systems, and other renewable technologies. According to Indeed, there are over 3,000 job listings for renewable energy technicians in the US. These technicians are responsible for installing, inspecting, and maintaining renewable energy systems. The Solar Foundation estimates there are over 250,000 solar workers in the US as of 2021, with demand continuing to rise as more homes and businesses adopt solar power.
There is especially high demand for solar PV installers to mount solar systems on rooftops and connect them to the electrical grid. Wind turbine technicians are also needed to install, maintain, and repair wind turbines on farms and offshore. Additional installation jobs include hydroelectric plant technicians, geothermal well drillers, solar thermal installers, and more. Proper training and often certification is required, but these jobs provide good pay and the satisfaction of enabling the transition to clean energy.
Operations and Maintenance
Operating and maintaining renewable energy systems requires an ongoing skilled workforce. Wind turbines, solar panels, hydropower dams, and other renewable technologies all need regular upkeep and servicing to function properly over their lifetime. This creates steady, long-term jobs for technicians, contractors, engineers, and other specialists. For example, a large-scale wind farm may employ tens of wind technicians to inspect, maintain, and repair the turbines. Similarly, large solar farms require teams to clean panels, monitor performance, and conduct repairs. The International Renewable Energy Agency estimates that operations and maintenance accounts for over 25% of renewable energy jobs globally.
These jobs provide stable careers, as renewable power plants often operate for 20-30 years or more. Operations and maintenance jobs also tend to be local, since workers need to be on-site regularly to service equipment. The renewable energy transition promises to generate hundreds of thousands of permanent jobs around the world in operations and maintenance.
Research and Development
A significant number of jobs in the renewable energy industry focus on research and development to improve existing renewable energy technologies and develop new ones. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, advances in renewable energy technologies often result from research conducted at universities, national laboratories, and in the private sector (https://www.energy.gov/eere/renewable-energy).
For example, engineers and scientists work to increase the efficiency and lower the costs of solar panels and wind turbines. Chemists research new materials to improve batteries that can store renewable energy. There are also many software developers and data scientists developing artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms to optimize renewable energy systems.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado employs over 1,500 researchers across renewable energy domains including solar, wind, water, geothermal, and biomass (https://www.nrel.gov/about/who-we-are.html). Many large companies like GE and Siemens also have dedicated R&D units focused on renewable energy innovation. Startups play a key role too, commercializing new technologies developed at universities and national labs.
Overall, research and development represents a significant source of highly-skilled jobs related to designing, improving, and commercializing renewable energy technologies.
Policy and Regulation
Governments at all levels are increasingly implementing policies and regulations to support the growth of renewable energy. This is creating many job opportunities related to the development, analysis, and implementation of renewable energy policies. According to Indeed, there are over 7,900 renewable energy policy jobs currently available in the US. These include positions like policy analysts, legislative assistants, program managers, and regulatory affairs specialists. The federal government has numerous agencies that work on renewable energy policy such as the Department of Energy, Environmental Protection Agency, and Department of the Interior. State and local governments also employ people to develop policies, incentives, and regulations to promote renewable energy in their jurisdictions. The growth of renewable energy is likely to create even more policy and regulatory jobs in the coming years as governments seek to address climate change while supporting economic growth.
Finance and Investment
The renewable energy industry requires massive amounts of financing and investment to support the development of new projects and infrastructure. This creates numerous jobs in finance, investment banking, private equity, venture capital, and asset management focused on funding renewables. According to LinkedIn, there are over 3,000 open jobs for Renewable Energy Finance in the United States. Major financial institutions like Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Blackstone have dedicated teams focused on renewable energy investment and project finance. There are also roles in structuring tax equity financing for renewable projects, assessing project economics and risks, due diligence, and more. Significant growth is expected in financing jobs as more capital flows into the renewables sector.
Small Business Opportunities
The growth of the renewable energy industry is creating exciting new opportunities for small businesses and entrepreneurs. According to Investopedia, renewable energy is an ideal sector for small business owners and startups to enter, as the technologies are constantly evolving and improving [1]. There are opportunities across the value chain, from manufacturing components and installing systems to providing operations, maintenance and consulting services.
Some of the most accessible small business opportunities in renewable energy include solar panel installation, biofuel production, manufacturing solar mounting equipment, and providing efficiency upgrades and retrofits. With low startup costs and no need for advanced technical skills, solar panel installation is an ideal entry point for aspiring renewable energy entrepreneurs. According to ZenBusiness, solar installation companies can get up and running quickly by leveraging existing skills in construction, electrical work or plumbing [2].
Small companies can also play a key role in areas like biofuel production, manufacturing specialist parts for wind and solar farms, and providing energy audits and retrofits to improve efficiency. With the renewable energy sector projected to continue its rapid growth, the opportunities for small business creation and entrepreneurship are only expected to multiply moving forward.
Conclusion
In summary, the growth of renewable energy is creating numerous jobs across many sectors. Renewable energy technologies like solar, wind, hydroelectric and geothermal require manufacturing, installation, operations and maintenance, research and development, and financing. As governments enact clean energy policies and provide subsidies, even more jobs are generated to meet regulatory requirements. Small businesses also benefit from opportunities in renewable energy services. The outlook for job creation from renewable energy is strong as costs continue to fall and adoption expands globally. Renewables are now the fastest growing source of new electricity generation capacity. With the right policies and investment, renewable energy can be a major engine of job growth and employment opportunities now and into the future.
