More than 300,000 new workers can be employed in wind and solar jobs and more than 1 million total employment opportunities can be created in achieving India’s ambitious clean energy goals to install 160 gigawatts (GW) of renewable power by 2022, according to a study of the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).
The labour-intensive rooftop solar segment will employ 70 percent of the new workforce, creating seven times more jobs than large-scale projects such as solar farms.
CEEW-NRDC study also finds that strong growth in the domestic solar manufacturing industry could provide full time employment for an additional 45,000 people in India. The study calculates both the number of full-time jobs that will be created by the solar and wind sector, as well as the number of workers that will be required to join the sectoral workforce full-time by 2022.
The study estimates that India’s clean energy goals have the potential to put 34,583 people to work in wind power, 58,647 in utility solar and 237,980 in rooftop solar jobs over the next five years.
Solar jobs will be well distributed across India with Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh. Wind jobs, like wind capacity, are likely to be concentrated in a few states that have high wind potential.
“CEEW and NRDC’s study captures a new dimension in accurately assessing manpower requirements in the solar and wind domain. This study builds on earlier analyses on the subject considering national objectives to meet India’s international clean energy commitments. It makes the path of Skill Council of Green Jobs more clear and visible in terms of capturing the opportunity of employability in India’s solar and wind sector,” said Dr Praveen Saxena, CEO of Skill Council of Green Jobs.
Nehmat Kaur, who works with NRDC’s India team, added, “Clean energy expansion is generating thousands of new jobs while meeting India’s climate and economic goals. With this tremendous opportunity, India is stepping up as a global leader in demonstrating how a growing economy can scale up renewables, generate employment and provide access in the face of rising energy demands.”
Neeraj Kuldeep, Programme Associate, CEEW, informed, “80 percent of the new clean energy workforce will be employed during the construction phase. However, despite these being contractual jobs, the large pipeline of renewable energy projects creates enough opportunities for workers to stay employed. Additionally, since most of these jobs are in the rooftop solar PV segment, central and state governments must provide greater policy support to the rooftop sector.”
Over the past three years, NRDC and CEEW have annually surveyed India’s solar and wind companies, developers, and manufacturers to collect accurate, market-based information on jobs created, workforce employed, and the skills required to achieve India’s renewable energy goals. The government should support development of training centers led by the private sector to source construction jobs locally since solar jobs are well distributed among states.
India’s rapidly expanding solar and wind energy sectors employed more than 21,000 people in 2016-2017. An additional 25,000 people will be employed over the coming year. India’s clean energy workforce comprises of solar installers, maintenance workers, engineers, technicians, and performance data monitors.
