Report: US adds 50,000 solar jobs in three years, one third in California

In 2010, the baseline report, the first edition of the census, found over 93,000 solar workers in the US. Based on the success of that report, the foundation has since then produced jobs census reports annually. The latest national edition found that the US industry now supports 142,698 workers at 18,000 locations, close to 50,000 new jobs over the course of three years.

According to foundation’s executive director Andrea Luecke, a solar worker is defined as somebody who spends at least 50% of his or her time working on solar activities. The research revealed that of the companies and individuals surveyed, over 90% of people work 100% of their time on solar. The foundation asked a set of 35 questions about wages, technical qualifications and other key metrics.

The survey included all forms of solar generated energy, including PV, CSP and solar thermal and cooling, examining jobs all along the supply chain, including installation, manufacturing, sales and distribution, R&D and academia, non-profit organisations.

Described as ‘deep dive’ research, the district level reports into jobs in California, Minnesota and Arizona were released on 11 February. Taking a larger sample data set than the national reports, the report claims employers in California expect to add 10,500 jobs in 2014, representing an increase of 22.3%, which would mean the state would house around 47% of all US solar workers. Wages for solar workers was found to be higher in California than the national average.

The state added 3,500 jobs in 2013, with the total at 47,233 at the end of the year. According to the foundation around 60% of California solar workers are classified as installers, with manufacturing representing 30% of workers, project development around 6% of jobs and the rest in other categories including academia and non-profit organisations.

Arizona accounted for 6% of national solar employment, although in 2013 more solar jobs were lost there than any other state. As Arizona enjoys high levels of solar irradiance, the Arizona solar industry predicted for itself a growth in employment figures of 5.6% over this year.

In contrast, the state of Minnesota is mandated to increase solar capacity by a factor of 30 by 2020, with 28% of employers expecting to see growth this year. The state currently only has 858 solar jobs, but this represents a growth of over 73% from 2012.

The Solar Foundation is a national non-profit organisation conducting strategic research, and is a non-industry funded group. During the course of its research, the foundation made over 70,000 phonecalls and sent over 11,000 emails, describing its margin for error as plus or minus 1.3%.

The foundation presented the three district level reports as well as an overview of the national data at an Environmental and Energy Study Institute event. Andrea Luecke was among speakers at the event, along with Amit Ronen, director of GW Institute and professor at GWU Trachtenberg School of Public Policy, Bob Powell, president of SunEdison North America and Jason Walsh, senior adviser to the Department of Energy’s Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy programme.

As part of his presentation at the Environmental and Energy Study Institute briefing, Jason Walsh highlighted research that indentified the largest cost reduction opportunity existing in soft costs, with balance of system costs now representing as much as 64% of the cost of a solar installation.

The findings have been posted along with maps and graphics representing key data on The Solar Foundation website.

This article has been amended to correct reporting of The Solar Foundation's claim that its margin for error is plus or minus 1.3%, rather than 3% as originally reported.