Renewable Energy to Create Thousands of New Jobs

Rhone Resch, President of the Solar Energy Industries Association, and Randy Swisher, President of the American Wind Energy Association, guests at separate Executive News Roundtables sponsored by Energy Policy TV, said the renewable energy industries will be large creators of new jobs in the U.S. in the coming years.

The solar industry’s Resch told Energy Policy TV that 55,000 new jobs could be created if the Energy Bill passes with the hoped-for eight-year extension of tax credits. He said that even more jobs could be created if solar continues to grow at its current rate, forecasting as many as 150,000 to 200,000 new jobs over the next decade in solar manufacturing, in efficiency and other ancillary roles and in the supply chain.

The wind association’s Swisher said that governors and other state officials recognize the job potential for wind energy, and they are actively courting manufacturers and others in the supply chain to capture those activities.

Swisher said that installed wind capacity will grow by at least 50 percent this year and perhaps substantially more with about 6,000 megawatts of capacity currently under construction. He said wind “has been the second-largest contributor (of) new installed capacity behind gas for the last three years.” He also said that future turbines are likely to produce more power, citing one manufacturer that is working on a 7.5 megawatt machine and noting that much of the investment in the industry is driving innovation “towards the scaling up process.”

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