Below is a brief summary of the key findings, but you can read and download the full report here.
Current landscape
In Q4 of 2020, there were a total of 415,024 solar, wind, and battery storage workers across the United States.
- 316,675 solar workers
- 116,801 wind workers
- 66,749 battery storage workers
Increasing renewable and battery storage capacity to account for 50 or 70 percent of electricity generation over the next 10 years would result in the creation of between 4.94 million to 6.01 million jobs.
Job creation by technology and industry
The majority of jobs created would be found in the following industries:
- manufacturing
- project development and operations
- construction
👉 The wind industry has the greatest job growth potential and would create mostly construction and manufacturing jobs
👉 Utility-scale solar will account for the majority of job growth in the solar sector and will result in project development and operations growth
👉 Battery storage deployment would account for about 8% of all jobs created, concentrated in project development and operations and manufacturing
Demand and supply gaps per occupation
Almost half of all jobs created will be found across 35 specific occupations:
24% Construction
18% Production
14% Architecture and engineering
10% Legal
10% Installation, maintenance, and repair
7% Management
7% Office and administrative
5% Business and financial operations
3% Computer and information technology
2% Transportation and material moving
Earnings
65% of these in-demand occupations support an average annual wage that is higher than the national average wage of $56,310.
| Wind turbine technicians | 5% above national average |
| Electricians | 9% above national average |
| Supervisors of production/construction workers and mechanics | 16 to 23% above national average |
| Electrical and civil engineers | 41 to 47% above national average |
Gaps in supply
Occupations that will have significant supply gaps over the next 10 years:
- Wind turbine service technicians
- Solar photovoltaic installers
- Semiconductor processing technicians
- Structural metal fabricators and fitters
- Electricians, and electrician helpers
Unionisation
Unionisation rates for solar, wind, and battery storage are higher than the national private-sector average (9.5 percent each)
Many of the jobs created will be in the manufacturing and construction industries; these industries have above-average unionisation rates
Construction, installation, maintenance, and repair occupations have among the highest unionisation rates
