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Solar Energy is Providing More Than Just Power

Jessica PirroJune 28, 2019 1545 0

Solar Jobs

Both national and international sources of renewable energy and solar panels, in particular, are taking off. Cities, states and countries are reaching levels of sources of renewable energy growth that was once thought impossible, and some are even running exclusively on sources of renewable energy. With this boom in solar energy comes a very large economic investment, this, in turn, leads to job creation. In the two most recent studies detailed just how many jobs there are in the solar panel industry exist: there’s now nearly s quarter million in the United States alone and close to 4.5 million globally.

Jobs in the Solar Panel Industry 

Solar panels are a vast industry and span the globe multiple times around. Getting to the point where your home and business has a high performing solar powered system installed the solar panel installation takes a quite a few steps that must be taken, with many jobs created along the way in regards to the manufacturing solar panels and solar power inverters, solar panel installation among other things.

There are manufacturing jobs that are associated with creating all the different components in solar powered systems. This includes manufacturing solar panels, solar power inverters, and solar batteries. The majority of solar panel equipment is manufactured by solar companies that are outside of the US, but since solar powered systems are becoming increasingly more popular in the US, there are now a number of big solar panels companies - which includes companies like LG, Panasonic. Hanwha and Silfab - are opening (or have already opened) manufacturing facilities for their solar panel companies in the United States.

The next area that creates jobs in the solar panels industry maintains a robust infrastructure of supply-chain jobs. These are the solar panel companies and employees who help bridge the gap between the equipment that is coming off the production lines globally and the local solar panel companies that ultimately provide you with a solar panel installation. Between the wholesalers and distributors, there are plenty of solar panel installation opportunities to go around.

When it comes time for the solar panels to be installed on your property or your business, you’ll be a contributor to solar panel installation jobs. Solar companies need to be hyper-local labor in order to complete the installation of solar powered systems. Even if your solar panels are coming from Asia and the solar power inverter was made in Europe, at the end of the day, you will need a local solar panel installer to actually come to your home or business solar panel installation.

Lastly, after the solar powered systems have been installed by a reputable solar panel installer, there’s a whole new industry within the solar panels industry that is dedicated solely to maintain the solar panels operations and maintenance jobs. Solar powered systems will often come with a warranty that they will perform at the highest efficiency levels for many years to come. But in the rare event that the solar panels or solar power inverter on your solar powered system underperform, O&M solar panel companies can not only monitor performance but will also help you replace your solar panels, solar powered inverters, and PV solar batteries software if needed.

The Solar Foundation Jobs Census

Each year, The Solar Foundation releases an update to its industry-standard National Solar Jobs Census. The report compiles data from the solar panels industry to describe the state of the solar industry in the United States writ large, focusing on not only one specific area of the solar panels industry but the solar panels industry as a whole.

In the 2019 jobs census, The Solar Foundation found that the solar energy industry in the US supports over 240,000 jobs. In the past three years, the solar energy industry has been responsible for an average of a quarter-million jobs per year. When you compare it to other industries, within the energy sector or even other sectors, the results are outstanding. According to the BLS data, coal mining only supports 52,000 jobs in the US at present and only one-fifth as many jobs as are in the solar panels industry.

The Future of Solar Energy Job Growth

All of the solar energy jobs that exist today support an industry that isn’t anywhere near the scale that it could achieve in the near future. As of 2019, solar powered systems are everywhere, in fact in the US alone, there are 83 million houses that are in the US, many of which are prime candidates for solar panel installation. As cities and states pass very ambitious renewable energy targets, the growth in solar panel installation won’t just be limited to residential solar panel installations: investing in and installing solar panels on the large scale which will be paramount to achieving high sources of renewable energy targets.

There are a quarter-million domestic solar jobs that support an industry that accounted for only about 2 percent of all electricity in 2018, the potential for growth is massive. The same is true internationally, where 4.5 million jobs that were sustained by the solar powered systems industry sector that produced just over 2 percent of global electricity. As solar energy goes from representing a small fraction of electricity in the US and internationally to a quarter or even more of all electricity, solar jobs are poised to experience even greater growth, perhaps even increasing ten-fold to meet the new needs of the solar energy industry.

 

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