The renewable energy sector is experiencing explosive growth, adding 250,000 jobs in 2023 alone and now comprising over 40% of the US energy workforce. This surge is driven by a variety of factors, including government initiatives, private investment, and the urgent need to combat climate change.
Workers riveting solar panels to roofs, keeping wind turbines spinning, and weatherizing homes across the nation are part of a job market that’s been outpacing U.S. employment growth overall. Renewable energy jobs now comprise more than 40 percent of the country’s 8.35 million people employed in the energy industry, according to the U.S. Department of Energy’s annualpublished in September.
The same trend holds up around the globe, where more than 13 million people now work in renewable energy, the International Renewable Energy Agency reports. Universities worldwide now offer more related degrees—such as electrical engineering with an emphasis on electrical power—helping to prepare students for careers in the field. Given predictions that this growth will only continue, experts say these types of educational shifts must pick up.
Last year’s DOE report came out not long after Congress passed the IRA, so it didn’t include much data on the law’s effect. This year’s, however, has “a lot more information on the impact the IRA and the BIL are having on clean energy,” says Timberlake, who also authored an analysis of the data in a new. “But I think the market winds were already shifting. Solar has been getting cheaper for years. Wind energy has been getting cheaper for years.
Interns from a program administered through Sandia National Laboratories visiting the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority in New Mexico. Credit: Sandra Begay/U.S. DOEthat give people experience working with utilities, state energy offices, and energy co-ops. The agency’s Clean Energy Innovator Fellowship, for example, gives participants an opportunity to work for up to two years on projects at select host organizations that advance decarbonization in the energy and transportation sectors.
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