The Solar Foundation (TSF, Washington D.C., U.S.) has released selected information from its upcoming "National Solar Jobs Census 2012", estimating that the solar industry employs 119,000 Americans in 2012, a 13% growth over 2011.

This is significantly more than the 2.3% increase in jobs in the U.S. economy over this period. TSF, SolarTech (San Jose, California, U.S.) and the North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners (NABCEP, Clifton Park, New York, U.S.) have also released a paper, "Financing the Next Generation of Solar Workers", which explores the workforce needs of the industry.

"The solar industry has grown at significantly higher rates than most other industries in the past several years, making it one of the foremost creators of new jobs in the United States," notes TSF Executive Director Andrea Luecke.

"Our census findings indicate that these new jobs are highly skilled in nature, including solar installation, sales, marketing and software development. These new solar industry jobs are sustainable, cannot be outsourced and play a critical role in our country’s economic recovery."

Falling component prices main driver of job growth

"National Solar Jobs Census 2012" finds that while the solar industry added 14,000 jobs, fossil fuel electricity generating industries lost 3,857 jobs, or 3.8% of its workforce.

1/3 of employers surveyed by TSF cited falling component prices as the primary cause of job creation. Other leading drivers of growth identified by the report are state-level renewable portfolio standards, third-party system ownership, and federal tax incentives.

TSF also upgraded its 2011 solar job estimate to 105,000, based on 2012 data collection. The full "National Solar Jobs Census 2012" will be released on November 14th, 2012.

USD 70 million funding gap for solar workforce training

"Financing the Next Generation of Solar Workers" notes that much public funding for solar training programs has expired, and looks at possible funding mechanisms to attract capital and efficiently allocate funding.

The report identifies a USD 70 million funding gap in workforce training over the next few years, and introduces public/private partnerships, revolving loan programs, and crowd sourcing as possible ways to meet those gaps.

2012-11-05 | Courtesy: TSF | solarserver.com © Heindl Server GmbH

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