SOLAR JOBS GROWING, SPREADING

119,000 Jobs Strong: The Solar Foundation Releases First-Ever Solar Industry Jobs Numbers for All 50 States

Andrea Luecke, April 18, 2013 (The Solar Foundation)

“…These are the first credible solar jobs numbers for all 50 states. Solar employs 119,000 people in every state in the nation, and employment grew 13.2% last year alone…Solar is becoming more labor efficient, which will help to drive down the non-hardware cost of solar…[Jobs will not be lost but will shift]… In 2012, it took one-third of the number of workers to install a megawatt of solar as it did in 2010…

“In 2012, the top ten states for solar jobs were: California, Arizona, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Colorado, New York, Texas, Michigan, and Ohio. Not surprisingly, the top three states for jobs are also the leaders in 2012 installed capacity, with a total of six of the top solar jobs states represented in the list of the top ten states for installed capacity…Many of the highest-ranked solar jobs states are also those with the greatest cumulative installed capacity and the highest known public training funding…”

click to enlarge

“California…accounts for nearly one-third of solar employment in the entire nation…[and] has over four times as many jobs as Arizona, the #2 state…Arizona saw a huge spike in solar employment (from 4,786 in 2011 to 9,800 this year), mostly due to…large utility-scale solar projects…[Without the] utility-scale solar, these workers might otherwise be struggling to find employment in a depressed construction market…Though Pennsylvania is still a top ten solar jobs state, it shed over 2,000 jobs in the last year. These struggles reflect deficiencies with the state’s SREC market…

“…[Employers indicated that component price declines were the greatest driver of company growth…Though price parity has only been achieved in certain places and under specific circumstances…the relationship between solar resource and electric rates is contributing to the success of the solar industry…[S]everal top 10 solar jobs states (such as NY, MA, NJ) rank low in terms of solar resource, but higher than average retail electricity prices make the cost of solar more attractive…[T]op solar jobs states with low electric rates (AZ, CO, TX) also have an abundant solar resource…[But] an abundant solar resource is not necessarily a prerequisite for a strong solar market…”

Tweet