Solar PV Supported 3.37 Million Jobs Globally In 2017

Image: IRENA

The total number of people employed in the renewable energy industry globally passed the 10 million mark for the first time last year, with solar PV jobs leading the way.

A new report from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) says 500,000 new renewable energy jobs were created globally in 2017, a 5.3 per cent jump from 2016 and bringing the total to 10.3 million.

The solar PV industry accounted for close to 3.37 million jobs, up almost 9 per cent from 2016. The vast majority of those were in China, which represented the equivalent of 2.2 million and up 13 per cent on 2016. Overall, China accounted for 43% of all renewable energy jobs.

While expansion in solar PV jobs occurred in China and India; the United States, Japan and the European Union lost jobs. However, the USA and Japan still remain among the leading countries in terms of number of overall renewable energy jobs.

China, Brazil, the United States, India, Germany and Japan represented more than 70 per cent of all industry employment globally and 60 per cent of all renewable energy jobs were in Asia.

Here’s the breakdown of employment in various sectors of the renewable industry.

“Fundamentally, this data supports our analysis that decarbonisation of the global energy system can grow the global economy and create up to 28 million jobs in the sector by 2050,” said Adnan Z. Amin, Director-General of IRENA.

Renewable Energy Jobs In Australia

The report, drawing from data from Green Energy Markets, states large scale solar directly supported the employment of about 4, 400 people in Australia during 2017, with another 5,500 directly employed in the design, sale and installation of roof-top solar power systems.

Wind power accounted for 11, 200 jobs in Australia, for a total of about 21,100 – and not including large-scale hydro and other technologies.

” This uptick comes after a number of years during which Australia’s renewable energy employment had declined,” states the report.

The situation has been looking even better during 2018 for renewables-based jobs in Australia.

More recent figures we reported from Green Energy Markets’ latest Renewable Energy Index indicate the 5,175 megawatts of large-scale renewables under construction in Australia at the end of March was providing enough work to employ 18,182 people. Added to that, Australia’s rooftop solar sector supported 6,084 full-time equivalent jobs during the month.

IRENA’s full Renewable Energy and Jobs Annual Review 2018 can be downloaded here (PDF).