10.3
million jobs in 2017
Renewable Energy and Jobs
Annual Review 2018
2
KEY FACTS
Annual Review 2018
10.3
million
jobs in 2017
5.3 % growth
43
% of all RE
jobs are
in China
3.4
million
jobs are in
the solar
industry
1.5
x job growth
from 2012
(excl. large hydro)
Key Numbers
3
R
Global renewable energy employment reached 10.3 million jobs in 2017,
an increase of 5.3% compared with the number reported in the previous
year.
R
An increasing number of countries derive socio-economic benets from
renewable energy, but employment remains highly concentrated in a
handful of countries, with China, Brazil, the United States, India, Germany
and Japan in the lead.
R
China alone accounts for 43% of all renewable energy jobs. Its share
is particularly high in solar heating and cooling (83%) and in the solar
photovoltaic (PV) sector (66%), and less so in wind power (44%).
R
The PV industry was the largest employer (almost 3.4 million jobs, up 9%
from 2016). Expansion took place in China and India, while the United
States, Japan and the European Union lost jobs.
R
Biofuels employment (at close to 2 million jobs) expanded by 12%, as
production of ethanol and biodiesel expanded in most of the major
producers. Brazil, the United States, the European Union and Southeast
Asian countries were among the largest employers.
R
Employment in wind power (1.1 million jobs) and in solar heating and
cooling (807 000 jobs) declined as the pace of new capacity additions
slowed.
R
Large hydropower employed 1.5 million people directly, of whom 63%
worked in operation and maintenance. Key job markets were China, India
and Brazil, followed by the Russian Federation, Pakistan, Indonesia, Iran
and Viet Nam.
R
Employment remains limited in Africa, but the potential for off-grid jobs is
high, particularly as energy access improves and domestic supply chain
capacities are developed.
RENEWABLE ENERGY AND JOBS – ANNUAL REVIEW 2018
4
Annual Review 2018
The renewable energy sector, including large
hydropower, employed 10.3 million people, directly and
indirectly, in 2017
1
. This represents an increase of 5.3%
over the number reported the previous year.
Renewable energy employment worldwide has
continued to grow since IRENA’s first annual assessment
in 2012. During 2017, the strongest expansion took place
in the solar photovoltaic (PV) and bioenergy industries.
In contrast, jobs in wind energy and in solar heating
and cooling declined, while those in the remaining
technologies were relatively stable (Figure 1).
1 Data are principally for 2016-17, with dates varying by country and techno-
logy, including some instances where only earlier information is available.
The data for large hydropower include direct employment only.
RENEWABLE
ENERGY
AND JOBS
RENEWABLE ENERGY AND JOBS – ANNUAL REVIEW 2018
5
Employment trends and patterns are shaped by a wide
range of technical, economic and policy-driven factors.
The falling costs of renewable energy technologies
continue to spur the deployment of renewables, and
during 2017, total investments edged up over 2016.
Job creation dynamics are subject to geographic
shifts in the production and installation of renewable
energy equipment. Corporate strategies and industry
realignments are important factors in this context, as
portions of the supply chain become more globalised
and geographically dierentiated.
Governmental policy, including the degree of
commitment to transforming the energy sector, is
also a key factor (IRENA, IEA and REN21, 2018). Policy
encompasses mandates, regulations and market design
in support of deployment, as well as industrial policies
to create and strengthen domestic value creation.
Where policies become less favourable to renewable
energy, change abruptly or invite uncertainty, the result
can be job losses or lack of new job creation. On the other
hand, expectations of adverse policy changes can lead
project developers to push forward a portfolio of projects
that would otherwise be initiated later, in order to beat a
certain cut-o date. The result in such cases is a temporary
surge of activity and employment creation, followed by
a drop. In the United States, for instance, the expected
imposition of taris on solar PV panel imports led to larger
deployments in 2016 but a slower pace during 2017.
Labour productivity has grown in importance as
renewable energy technologies have matured,
processes have been automated, and economies of
scale and learning eects have risen. As previous
editions of this Review have pointed out, bioenergy
feedstock harvesting is subject to growing
mechanisation in some countries. Automation of solar
PV panel manufacturing is already well advanced.
FIGURE 1: GLOBAL RENEWABLE ENERGY EMPLOYMENT BY TECHNOLOGY, 2012-17
Source: IRENA jobs database.
Note: The numbers shown in this Figure reflect those reported in past editions of the Annual Review.
a Includes liquid biofuels, solid biomass and biogas
b Other technologies include geothermal energy, hydropower (small), concentrated solar power (CSP), heat pumps (ground-based),
municipal and industrial waste, and ocean energy.
1.36
2.40
0.75
0.89
0.33
1.41
2.27
2.50
0.83
0.50
0.38
1.74
2.50
2.99
1.03
0.76
0.40
1.66
2.77
2.88
1.08
0.94
0.40
1.63
3.09
2.74
1.16
0.83
0.45
1.52
3.37
3.06
1.15
0.81
0.45
1.51
7.14
8.23
9.33
9.71
9.79
10.3
Large Hydropower
Others
a
Solar Heating / Cooling
Wind Energy
Bioenergy
b
Solar Photovoltaic
1.36
2.40
0.75
0.89
0.33
1.41
2.27
2.50
0.83
0.50
0.38
1.74
2.50
2.99
1.03
0.76
0.40
1.66
2.77
2.88
1.08
0.94
0.40
1.63
3.09
2.74
1.16
0.83
0.45
1.52
3.37
3.06
1.15
0.81
0.45
1.51
7.14 8.23
9.33
9.71 9.79 10.34
5.7
6.5 7.7 8.1 8.3 8.8
Large Hydropower
Solar Photovoltaic
Bioenergy
a
Wind Energy
Solar Heating / Cooling
Others
b
Total
Subtotal
1.36
2.40
0.75
0.89
0.33
1.41
2.27
2.50
0.83
0.50
0.38
1.74
2.50
2.99
1.03
0.76
0.40
1.66
2.77
2.88
1.08
0.94
0.40
1.63
3.09
2.74
1.16
0.83
0.45
1.52
3.37
3.06
1.15
0.81
0.45
1.51
7.14
8.23
9.33
9.71
9.79
10.3
Solar Photovoltaic
Bioenergy
b
Wind Energy
Solar Heating / Cooling
Others
a
Large Hydropower
201720162015201420132012
10
8
6
4
2
0
Million jobs
201720162015201420132012
8
6
4
2
0
2
0
Million jobs
201720162015201420132012
10
8
6
4
2
0
Million jobs
8
8
RENEWABLE ENERGY AND JOBS – ANNUAL REVIEW 2018
5000 1 000 1 500 2 000 2 500 3 000 3 500
Jobs (thousands)
Solar
Photovoltaic
Liquid Biofuels
Hydropower
(Large)
Wind Energy
Solar Heating/
Cooling
Solid Biomass
Biogas
Hydropower
(Small)
Geothermal
Energy
CSP
Municipal and
industrial waste
Tide, Wave and
Ocean Energy
Others
1 931
1 514
93
34
28
1
8
1 148
3
365
807
780
344
290
10.3
million jobs in 2017
6
This fifth edition of Renewable Energy and Jobs –
Annual Review provides the latest available estimates
and calculations on renewable employment. It
represents an ongoing eort to refine the data,
including IRENA’s own methodology. Global numbers
are based on a wide range of studies with varying
methodologies and uneven detail and quality
2
.
The first section highlights employment trends by
technology (Figure 2). It discusses employment in solar
PV, liquid biofuels, wind, solar heating and cooling, and
large hydropower (Box 1). For other technologies which
employ far fewer people, less information is available.
The second section oers insights for selected
countries. In addition, gender aspects (Box 2) and o-
grid developments (Box 3) are discussed.
FIGURE 2: RENEWABLE ENERGY EMPLOYMENT BY TECHNOLOGY
Source: IRENA jobs database.
Note: Others includes jobs which are not technology specific.
2 Prominent methodologies include input-output modelling, industry surveys and employment-factor calculations, with varying degrees of detail and sophisti-
cation. For the most part, the employment numbers in this report cover direct and indirect (supply chain) jobs. The data for large hydropower include direct
employment only.
RENEWABLE ENERGY AND JOBS – ANNUAL REVIEW 2018
Japan
China
India
2.3
2.2
2.1
2.0
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
Malaysia
Germany
Turkey
United
Mexico
Italy
65%
of PV
jobs
3.4
million
7
RENEWABLE
ENERGY
EMPLOYMENT BY
TECHNOLOGY
SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAICS
Globally, the solar PV industry had another banner
year, with record installations of 94 gigawatts (GW)
during 2017, up from 73 GW in 2016, and significant new
job creation. China, India, the United States and Japan
were the most important markets, followed by Turkey,
Germany, Australia and the Republic of Korea (IRENA,
2018b). Employment increased by 8.7% to approach
3.37 million jobs in 2017
3
.
A key feature of the solar PV landscape is that jobs
remain highly concentrated in a small number of
countries. This can be attributed to the fact that the bulk
of manufacturing takes place in relatively few countries
and domestic markets vary enormously in size. The top
five countries, led by China, account for 90% of solar
PV jobs worldwide. Of the leaders shown in Figure 3,
eight are Asian. Overall, Asia is home to almost 3 million
solar PV jobs. This represents 88% of the global total,
followed by North America’s 7% share and Europe’s 3%.
3 The countries for which IRENA’s database has solar PV employment estimates represent 387 GW of cumulative installations, or 99% of the global total. They also
represent the same share of the 94 GW of new installations in 2017.
FIGURE 3: LEADERS IN SOLAR PV EMPLOYMENT
Source: IRENA jobs database.
Note: The threshold for inclusion in the figure is 10 000 jobs.
RENEWABLE ENERGY AND JOBS – ANNUAL REVIEW 2018
8
Reflecting its unchallenged status as the leading
producer of PV equipment and the world’s largest
installation market, China accounted for about two-
thirds of PV employment worldwide, or some 2.2
million jobs. Job gains were once again strongest in the
installations segment, which now accounts for 36% of
China’s PV jobs (CNREC, 2018). Likewise, strong growth
in new capacity additions boosted employment in India
to an estimated 164 000 jobs.
By contrast, European PV employment continued its
downward slide, reflecting limited domestic installation
markets and a lack of competitiveness among European
module manufacturers. Revised estimates indicate
an 8% decrease to 99 600 jobs across the European
Union in 2016
4
(EurObserv’ER, 2018). More surprisingly,
US employment fell as well, for the first time, to about
233 000 jobs
5
(Solar Foundation, 2018). Japan’s slowing
pace caused employment to fall from 302 000 in 2016
to an estimated 272 000 jobs in 2017.
As deployment of solar PV continues to expand, more
and more countries will benefit from job creation
along the supply chain, primarily in installations and
operations and maintenance (O&M) (IRENA, 2017b).
LIQUID BIOFUELS
With the exception of Brazil, all major bioethanol
producers were estimated to have reached new
output peaks in 2017. Biodiesel production also rose
in many of these countries, but remained somewhat
below previous levels in Argentina, Indonesia and
the Philippines, and at much lower levels in China
6
.
Worldwide employment in biofuels is estimated at
1.93 million, a change of 12%. Most of these jobs are
generated in the agricultural value chain (in planting
and harvesting of feedstock).
The construction of fuel-processing facilities and O&M
of existing plants employ fewer people, but typically
require higher skills and oer better pay.
It should be noted that changes in biofuels employment
do not necessarily equate to net job gains or losses. Oil
palm, soybean and similar types of feedstock are used
for a range of agricultural and commercial purposes in
addition to the energy sector, and the composition of
end-use demand is relatively fluid.
The regional profile of biofuels employment diers
considerably from that of the solar PV sector. Latin
America accounts for half the jobs worldwide, whereas
Asia (principally labour-intensive Southeast Asian
feedstock supply activities) accounts for 21%, North
America for 16% and Europe for 10%. Figure 4 includes
the dozen countries with at least 10 000 jobs and shows
that the top 5 alone account for about 80% of global
estimated employment.
4 The jobs data for the European Union and its member states throughout this report are for 2016, the most recent year for which such information is available.
Details are at the EurObserv’ER website, https://www.eurobserv-er.org/17th-annual-overview-barometer/.
5 The Solar Foundation carries out an annual survey of employment across all solar technologies, but does not offer a breakout for solar PV jobs. The figure
reported here is an IRENA estimate.
6 The 2017 production estimates are derived from the national biofuels reports published by the US Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agriculture Service,
available at https://www.fas.usda.gov/commodities/biofuels.
RENEWABLE ENERGY AND JOBS – ANNUAL REVIEW 2018
United States
of America
Colombia
Indonesia
Thailand
Malaysia
China
India
Poland
France
Germany
Romania
Brazil
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
Million jobs
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
1.9
million
41%
Brazil
United States
Colombia
0.8
0.7
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
Million jobs
Indonesia
Thailand
Malaysia
China
India
Poland
France
Germany
Romania
1.9
million
41%
of biofuel
jobs
9
Brazil continued to have the largest liquid biofuel
workforce. The estimated 795 000 jobs indicate a small
increase from the previous year. Employment also rose
in the United States, buoyed by record production
of ethanol and biodiesel (Urbanchuk, 2018). Biofuel
output and employment also expanded in the European
Union, which had an estimated 200 000 jobs in 2016
(EurObserv’ER, 2018).
Indonesia’s biofuels production has experienced a
roller-coaster in recent years, impacted by changing
export demand. Production in 2017 fell again, though
not as dramatically as in 2015 (USDA-FAS, 2017a).
Based on its employment-factor approach, IRENA
estimates that close to 180 000 people worked in
Indonesia’s biodiesel sector in 2017, a 22% decline from
the previous year
 7
. Biofuel output reached new peaks
during 2017 in Malaysia and Thailand. IRENA estimates
that these two countries together employed some
133 000 people, with most of the jobs in feedstock
supply
8
.
Colombia is another important and labour-intensive
Latin American biofuel producer. Its output in 2017
rose to a high of about 1 billion litres in 2017 (USDA-
FAS, 2017b). Estimates based on data published by
Federación Nacional de Biocombustibles de Colombia
(FNBC, n.d.) suggest the number could have been as
high as 190 800 jobs in 2017, but it is unclear whether
these represent full-time equivalents.
FIGURE 4: LEADERS IN LIQUID BIOFUELS EMPLOYMENT
Source: IRENA jobs database.
Note: The threshold for inclusion in the figure is 20 000 jobs.
7 The calculation relies on revisions of an employment factor initially developed by APEC (2010). This factor is applied as a constant each year for smallholder
production, which accounts for 45% of volume (WWF, 2012) and is more labour intensive than large-scale plantations. For plantations, IRENA applies an
assumed “decline” factor of 3% per year as a proxy for rising labour productivity.
8 In Thailand, IRENA estimates 102 600 jobs. Smallholders have a 73% production share, an average of values reported by Termmahawong (2014) and by RSPO
(2015). In Malaysia, smallholders account for 35% of production (WWF, 2012). IRENA estimates 29 700 jobs in Malaysia. In addition, IRENA estimates 35 400
jobs in the Philippines.
RENEWABLE ENERGY AND JOBS – ANNUAL REVIEW 2018
China
Germany
United States
0.55
0.50
0.45
0.20
0.15
0.10
0.05
0
Million jobs
India
United Kingdom
Brazil
Denmark
Netherlands
France
Mexico
Spain
Philippines
Turkey
Poland
Canada
South Africa
Germany
United States
of America
India
United Kingdom
Brazil
Denmark
Netherlands
France
Mexico
Spain
Philippines
Turkey
Poland
Canada
South Africa
China
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
Million jobs
0.20
0.15
0.10
0.05
0
3.4
44%
million
1.1
million
44%
of wind
jobs
10
WIND
Including its onshore and oshore segments, the wind
industry employs 1.15 million people worldwide, a
0.6% decrease from 2016
9
. Most wind jobs are found
in a small number of countries, although the degree of
concentration is lower than in the solar PV sector. China
alone accounts for 44% of global wind employment.
The top five countries represent 76% of the total. The
regional picture is also somewhat more balanced than
in the solar PV industry. Asia’s 610 000 wind jobs make
up about half the total, while Europe accounts for 30%
and North America 10%. Of the top 16 countries shown
in Figure 5, seven are European, four are Asian
10
, three
are from North America and one each is from Africa
and South America.
China retained its undisputed lead in both new and
cumulative installations during 2017. While new wind
installations decreased 15%, those in the job-intensive
oshore sector increased by 26%. The country’s
total wind employment remained steady at 510 000
jobs (CNREC, 2018). Following China, five countries –
Germany, the United States, India, the United Kingdom,
and Brazil – together accounted for another 50% of
global installations.
Wind employment in the United States edged up by
3% to a new high of 105 500 jobs in 2017 (AWEA, 2018).
Brazil’s pace of installations remained roughly at the
level of 2015, with employment estimated at 33 700 jobs.
9 The countries for which IRENA’s database has wind power employment estimates represent 511 GW of cumulative installations, or 99% of the global total.
They also cover the same share of the 46 GW of new installations in 2017.
10 For the purposes of this report, Turkey is counted as part of Asia.
FIGURE 5: LEADERS IN WIND EMPLOYMENT
Source: IRENA jobs database.
Note: The threshold for inclusion in the figure is 10 000 jobs.
RENEWABLE ENERGY AND JOBS – ANNUAL REVIEW 2018
11
Employment in Europe’s wind sector reached 344 000
jobs in 2016 (the year with the latest available data),
representing a 10% increase over 2015. New wind
installations amounted to 15.6 GW during 2017, up
25% from 2016. Some 12.5 GW added onshore and
3.2 GW oshore brought the continent’s cumulative
total to 168.7 GW (Wind Europe, 2018b). Europe’s wind
industry is a global technology leader, especially in
the oshore segment, where it accounts for 88% of
installed capacity worldwide.
Export markets hold considerable importance for sales
and jobs; some European sites produce exclusively for
export (Deloitte and Wind Europe, 2017).
11
Competition among manufacturers and service
providers is intensifying internationally; requirements in
some countries to source a certain share of equipment,
components and services locally are reshaping the
industry; and the supply chain is becoming more
globalised. More than 80% of European wind firms have
either a manufacturing or commercial presence in other
parts of the world (Deloitte and Wind Europe, 2017). As
a recent example, Danish turbine manufacturer Vestas
announced in early 2018 plans to build a hub and
nacelle assembly facility in Argentina, where it has sold
its products since 1991 (Weston, 2018).
With a diversifying global supply chain, employment will
be created in growing numbers of countries. IRENA’s
work has documented the opportunity to create jobs
along the supply chain (IRENA, 2017c, 2018c).
SOLAR HEATING AND COOLING
The available information for 2017 shows a decline in
major solar heating and cooling markets including
China, Brazil and India (Epp, 2018). IRENA estimates
that global employment in the sector stood at
807 000 jobs in 2017, a 2.6% decrease from the previous
estimate.
Estimates for China suggest that employment declined
from the previous year (CNREC, 2018). The country
has long been the clear leader in deployment of solar
heating and cooling, and still accounts for 83% of total
jobs in the sector. The top five countries account for
94% of all jobs. Of the top 10, four countries each are
from Asia and Europe.
Employment in the European Union is thought to have
declined slightly in 2016 (the most recent year with
available data), to 34 300 jobs
12
. The Brazilian market
declined for a second year in a row, by 3% in 2017
(ABRASOL, 2018). IRENA’s employment-factor-based
estimates
13
suggest that the country’s employment in
this sector fell slightly, to about 42 400 jobs. Turkey
has an estimated 16 600 people working in this sector
(Akata, 2018). In the United States, employment was
estimated by IRENA at 12 500 jobs in 2017. For India,
where annual installations have fluctuated in recent
years, the employment-factor calculation suggests that
the country may have had some 17 240 jobs in 2017,
when 1.5 million square metres of collector area was
added (Epp, 2018).
11 This is the case, for instance, at Enercon’s Viana do Costelo manufacturing cluster in Portugal (tower, blades and generators), and at Vestas’ Daimiel blade
factory in Spain. In Portugal, the site provides employment for 2 500 people directly and indirectly; the Spanish factory employs 1 000 people directly (Deloitte
and Wind Europe, 2017).
12 Eurobserv’ER (2018) reports a combined 29 000 jobs for solar heating and cooling and concentrating solar power but national-level reports suggest a higher
figure of 39 900. Of these, there are some 5 600 CSP jobs in Spain and Germany. On the basis of these numbers, the solar heating and cooling employment
is estimated at 34 300 jobs.
13 IRENA uses an employment factor of one full-time job per 87 square metres installed, as suggested by IEA SHCP (2016).
RENEWABLE ENERGY AND JOBS – ANNUAL REVIEW 2018
20172016201520142013
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
Million jobs
Viet Nam
Iran
Indonesia
Pakistan
Russian
Federation
Brazil
India
China
Rest of the World
Rest of
the World
Large
Hydropower
Brazil
China
Russian
Federation
31%
1.66
1.65
1.71
1.58
1.51
21%
19%
12%
Viet Nam
3%
4%
India
3%
Iran
Indonesia
3%
Pakistan
4%
12
BOX 1. EMPLOYMENT IN LARGE HYDROPOWER
Information on employment in the hydropower sector
remains sparse. For the fourth year in a row, IRENA
estimates the number of jobs in large hydropower
through an employment-factor approach that allows
an examination of direct jobs in the dierent segments
of the value chain (manufacturing; construction and
installation; and O&M).
This year’s calculations indicate approximately
1.5 million direct jobs in 2017, a decline of 10% from
the previous year. The drop was primarily driven
by developments in China and Brazil, where new
installations in 2017 levelled o from the earlier rapid
pace of capacity additions. The key job markets in
the sector are China, India and Brazil, which together
account for 52% of total direct employment (Figure 6).
China’s share of large-hydropower employment
declined by 20% in 2017 because of rising labour
productivity and a drop in new installations. India’s
FIGURE 6: EVOLUTION OF LARGE HYDROPOWER EMPLOYMENT BY COUNTRY
Source: IRENA jobs database.
HYDROPOWER
As described in previous editions of this publication,
estimating employment in hydropower is quite
challenging, as data remain surprisingly scarce and
it is dicult to clearly distinguish small from large
hydropower jobs. Small hydropower is estimated
to have employed 290 000 people in 2017. Large
hydropower employed about 1.5 million people directly
in 2017, with the majority in the O&M segment of the
value chain (Box 1). The global estimates for 2013-
17 have been updated following a major revision of
employment factors, statistics and available data
from countries. Temporal and geographic variations in
labour productivity were also reviewed.
RENEWABLE ENERGY AND JOBS – ANNUAL REVIEW 2018
20172016201520142013
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
Million jobs
Viet Nam
Iran
Indonesia
Pakistan
Russian
Federation
Brazil
India
China
Rest of the World
Rest of
the World
Large
Hydropower
Brazil
China
Russian
Federation
31%
1.66
1.65
1.71
1.58
1.51
21%
19%
12%
Viet Nam
3%
4%
India
3%
Iran
Indonesia
3%
Pakistan
4%
13
labour-intensive hydropower sector accounted for
19% of the jobs, followed by Brazil (12%), the Russian
Federation (4%) and Pakistan (4%). Other relevant
employers include Indonesia, Iran and Viet Nam (3%
each) (Figure 7).
The results provide interesting insights into segments
of the renewable energy value chain. Given the large
cumulative capacities installed, 63% of the direct jobs in
the global large hydropower sector are found in O&M. In
fact, O&M employs more than 932 000 people to service
the 1 terawatt of installed capacity worldwide. The share
of jobs in construction and installation decreased from
38% in 2016 to 30% in 2017, owing to a leaner project
pipeline. The manufacturing segment, because of its
lower labour intensity, remains a distant third.
FIGURE 7: EMPLOYMENT IN LARGE HYDROPOWER
BY COUNTRY IN 2017
Source: IRENA jobs database.
RENEWABLE ENERGY AND JOBS – ANNUAL REVIEW 2018
14
RENEWABLE
ENERGY
EMPLOYMENT
IN SELECTED
COUNTRIES
The renewable energy sector employed 10.3 million
people, directly and indirectly, in 2017. Excluding
large hydropower, employment increased by 6.3%
to reach 8.8 million in 2017. As in previous years, the
leading renewable energy job markets were China,
Brazil, the United States, India, Japan and Germany
(Figure 8). This section presents key country-level
trends. Jobs in the hydropower sector have not been
included in this analysis because job estimates for large
facilities include only direct jobs (based on the IRENA
employment-factor approach), whereas data for most
other renewables include both direct and indirect jobs
(primarily based on data collection from primary and
secondary sources).
Overall, renewable energy employment continued to
shift towards Asian countries, which accounted for 60%
of jobs in 2017, compared with 51% in 2013. Most of Asia’s
dynamism is based on growing domestic deployment
and strong manufacturing capabilities, supported by
policies such as feed-in taris, auctions, preferential
credit and land policies, and local content rules.
FIGURE 8: RENEWABLE ENERGY EMPLOYMENT IN SELECTED COUNTRIES
Source: IRENA jobs database.
a Jobs in large hydropower are not included in the country totals given differences in methodology
and uncertainties in underlying data. However, data for the EU and Germany include large hydropower jobs.
1 268
432
283
16
16
44
893
786
3 880
China
North
Africa
Rest of
Africa
South Africa
Jobs (thousands)
EU
India
Japan
Brazil
United States
of America
Germany
332
1,246
432
283
16
16
44
893
786
3,880
China
North
Africa
Rest of
Africa
South Africa
Jobs (thousands)
EU
India
Japan
Brazil
United States
of America
Germany
332
million
jobs
in 2017
in large
hydropower
in 2017
million jobs
8.8
+
1.5
a
1 246
432
283
16
16
44
893
786
3 880
China
North
Africa
Rest of
Africa
South Africa
Jobs (thousands)
EU
India
Japan
Brazil
United States
of America
Germany
332
8.8
million jobs in 2017
in large
hydropower
in 2017
million jobs
+
1.5
a
8.8
million jobs in 2017
in large hydropower
million jobs
in 2017
+
1.5
a
RENEWABLE ENERGY AND JOBS – ANNUAL REVIEW 2018
15
As in past years, China continued to have
the largest number of people employed,
accounting for 43% of the world’s total. The number
climbed from 3.6 million jobs in 2016 to 3.8 million in
2017, a growth of 5% (CNREC, 2018). This was entirely
due to the continued expansion of the solar PV sector.
Employment in solar water heating declined, and
remained essentially unchanged in other renewable
energy sectors. Solar PV employment was estimated
at 2.2 million jobs, an expansion of 13% over the
previous year. Of these jobs, almost 1.4 million were
in manufacturing. Following the record solar PV
installations in 2017, some 792 000 people were
working in the construction and installation segment,
25% more than in 2016.
Wind employment was estimated at 510 000 jobs
in 2017. The pace of new installations, at 15 GW, was
somewhat slower than in 2016. However, installations
in the job-intensive oshore wind energy sector rose
by 26%. Increased localisation of the value chain and
growth in exports ensured that employment in the
sector remained steady.
Employment in the Chinese solar water heating industry
continued its downward trend. After a 2.8% drop in
2017, employment in the sector stood at 670 000
jobs. The other renewable energy technologies weigh
less heavily: solid biomass at 180 000 jobs, biogas
at 145 000, small hydropower at 95 000, biofuels at
51 000 and concentrated solar power at 11 000. This
year’s estimates also include, for the first time, a figure
of 2 000 jobs in geothermal heat.
In Brazil, most renewables employment is
still in liquid biofuels and large hydropower.
Total biofuel employment rose by 1% in 2017 to 593
400 jobs. Ethanol jobs declined due to the steady
automation of feedstock supply and a decline of
ethanol production (USDA-FAS, 2017c)
14
.
While ethanol-related employment fell, it was more
than oset by gains in biodiesel jobs (ABIOVE, 2018).
IRENA estimates that Brazil employed 202 000 people
in biodiesel in 2017, up more than 30 000 from the
previous year
15
.
Brazil’s wind industry added about 2 GW in 2017,
about the same as during the preceding year (GWEC,
2018), to reach a cumulative 12.8 GW. Correspondingly,
IRENA’s employment-factor-based calculation yields
a wind power workforce of about 33 700 people in
nacelle and blade manufacturing; tower construction
and installation; and O&M
16
.
New installations in Brazil’s solar heating market declined
by 3% in 2017 (ABRASOL, 2018). Total employment in
2017 was estimated at about 42 000 jobs, with about
27 500 in manufacturing and 14 500 in installation
17
.
14 In 2016, Brazil had around 225 400 workers in sugarcane cultivation and 164 900 workers in ethanol processing (MTE/RAIS, 2018). A rough and dated estimate
suggests that there may be another 200 000 indirect jobs in equipment manufacturing.
15 Calculation based on employment factors for different feedstocks (Da Cunha et al., 2014). The shares of different feedstock raw materials are derived from
USDA-FAS (2017c). Soybean oil accounts for the bulk (about 71%), followed by beef tallow (16%) and cotton seed and vegetable oils (13%).
16 This calculation is based on employment factors published by Simas and Pacca (2014).
17 This IRENA calculation of installation jobs is based on Brazilian market data and a solar heating and cooling employment factor. The estimate for manufacturing
jobs is derived from an original 2013 estimate by Alencar (2013).
RENEWABLE ENERGY AND JOBS – ANNUAL REVIEW 2018
16
The United States experienced its first
job loss in the solar sector since 2010 when
the Solar Jobs Census (Solar Foundation, 2018) first
began tracking employment. The number of solar jobs
fell by 9 800 or 3.8%, to about 250 000
18
. Most of the
loss took place in the installation segment, aected by
a 22% reduction in new capacity additions, particularly
of utility-scale plants. The contrast between 2016 and
2017 is skewed by the fact that installations in 2016
were driven higher by expectations that a 30% federal
investment tax credit might expire. Policy uncertainties
in states such as California, Massachusetts and Nevada
also had an impact (Solar Foundation, 2018).
The installation segment of the value chain generates
more than half of all US solar jobs – 129 400 in 2017.
Manufacturing accounts for a fairly small 15% of
employment; more than 95% of solar panels are
imported (Swanson and Plumer, 2018). Project
development represents another 14% of jobs; sales
and distribution 12%; and the rest is in research and
development, government, and other activities.
The US solar industry is more gender diverse than its
fossil fuel industry. Women represented 27% of the
solar workforce. In general, women seem to hold a
higher share in total renewable energy jobs than in the
overall energy industry, about 20 to 25% (Box 2).
In January 2018, in response to a trade petition filed
by two manufacturers (Suniva and SolarWorld), the
US government imposed import taris for modules
and cells at a rate of 30%, set to decline to 15% over
four years. An initial analysis suggested that the taris
may reduce installations by 11% over the next five years
(Pyper, 2018). The Solar Energy Industries Association
(SEIA, 2018) forecasts a loss of up to 23 000 jobs in
2018, but the impact could be softened because the
first 2.5 GW of solar cells imported annually will be
exempted from taris (Eckhouse, 2018).
Previous trade duties imposed on Chinese solar products
in 2012 and 2014 failed to raise US solar manufacturing
(Roselund, 2016). In 2013, China imposed retaliatory
taris of 57% on imports of US polysilicon. As the US
share of world polysilicon production plummeted from
29% to 11% between 2010 and 2017 (while China’s share
rose to 70%), one-third of the US polysilicon workforce
was laid o (Foehringer Merchant, 2018; Roselund, 2018).
Employment in the US wind industry rose to about
105 500 jobs in 2017 (AWEA, 2018). The wind sector
continues to enjoy a period of stability made possible by
steady policies (notably the multiyear extension of the
production tax credit) and employment is now double
the level of 2013
19
. The number of manufacturing jobs
in 2017 is estimated at more than 23 000. This is down
slightly from 2016, but is oset by higher numbers in the
development, transportation and construction segment
of the supply chain. This reflects the fact that by year-end,
more than 13 GW of capacity were under construction
and 15 GW in advanced stages of development.
More than 80% of all US wind capacity is located in low-
income rural counties. Land lease payments totalling
USD 267 million in 2017 are helping to stimulate these
rural economies, in addition to tax revenues and income
earned from segments of the value chain (AWEA, 2018).
US ethanol production rose to a new record of about
60 billion litres in 2017, lifted by higher domestic
and export sales. Direct and indirect employment is
estimated at 237 000 jobs in 2017, a 6.5% increase
over 2016 (Urbanchuk, 2018). In the biodiesel sector,
production edged up slightly to about 6 billion litres in
2017 (EIA, 2018). IRENA’s employment-factor calculation
suggests a level of 62 200 jobs in 2017.
In 2016, the United States had a biomass power capacity
of about 16 GW in 2016 (EIA, 2017). An employment-
factor-based calculation suggests that direct and
indirect employment in biomass power might be close
to 80 000 jobs, roughly the same level of employment
as the previous year
20
.
18 This figure includes jobs in solar PV, solar heating and cooling, and concentrated solar power.
19 The production tax credit expired in 2013, leading to a drop in new investment to nearly zero and causing a temporary, but sharp, downturn in installations and
jobs before this support measure was renewed and extended by the US Congress.
20 This figure is based on an employment factor of 4 jobs per MW, applied to 16 GW of biomass power capacity, for some 64 400 jobs, and to 3.8 GW of
biomass-fired combined heat and power plants, for an additional 15 300 jobs.
RENEWABLE ENERGY AND JOBS – ANNUAL REVIEW 2018
17
BOX 2. IRENA’S WORK ON GENDER
IRENA has strived to address the gender dimension in
its work on renewable energy employment. The 2013
report, Renewable Energy and Jobs (IRENA, 2013)
examined the role of women in renewable energy
development in both modern markets and energy
access contexts, and assessed the various constraints
faced by women in the sector.
Recognising a gap in gender-disaggregated data for the
renewable energy sector, IRENA has integrated surveys
as part of the Annual Reviews. The 2016 edition of the
Annual Review (IRENA, 2016a) reported that women
represented an average of 35% of the workforce of
nearly 90 companies responding to the online survey.
The 2017 edition (IRENA, 2017a) presented findings
of a survey conducted jointly by IRENA, the Clean
Energy Business Council and Bloomberg New Energy
Finance in the Middle East and North Africa region. It
found that gender discrimination in renewable energy
is less pronounced than in the energy sector at large.
Challenges to employment and promotion remain.
A variety of actions are needed, including flexibility
in workplace, mentorship and training, support for
parenting, fair and transparent processes, equal pay
and targets for diversity.
In 2018, IRENA will present new analysis of the gender
dimension of employment impacts among local rural
communities aected by large-scale renewable energy
project development. The study gathers primary data
from solar and wind projects being developed across
sub-Saharan Africa.
In the access context, IRENA has emphasised the
importance of integrating a gender perspective in
policy and programme design as a means to accelerate
adoption, enhance sustainability and maximise
benefits. The 2017 edition of the Annual Review
highlighted the benefits of cleaner cooking fuels,
such as biogas and improved cookstoves, for women.
As social entrepreneurs, women are also catalysts
for deployment as seen from several cases analysed
by IRENA such as the Wonder Women Initiative in
Indonesia (IRENA, 2016b, 2018d).
Globally, various initiatives have been launched to
focus attention on gender and energy. ENERGIA,
an international network focused on gender and
sustainable energy, has been playing a key role in
mainstreaming gender in energy policy making. The
challenge of expanding access to energy has elicited
women-centric eorts such as Barefoot College in India
and Solar Sister. In the United States, WRISE (Women
of Renewable Industries and Sustainable Energy) has
provided support to women in the wind sector for more
than a decade; it expanded its focus in 2017 to include
solar energy and a variety of related issues such as
energy storage, eciency and smart grids. The GWNET
(Global Women’s Network for the Energy Transition) has
been recently established with the aim of empowering
women in energy through interdisciplinary networking,
advocacy, training, coaching and mentoring, and
services related to projects and financing.
IRENA is committed to continue its work on the issue.
The agency has started work on a stand-alone report
on gender that will integrate up-to-date information
from around the world and present cutting-edge
thinking and insights on this topic.
RENEWABLE ENERGY AND JOBS – ANNUAL REVIEW 2018
18
21 EurObserv’ER (2018) switched its methodology from a survey of industries to an input-output analysis, which allows for more consistent results for individual
EU member countries. The EU total, along with the other EU figures presented here, was adjusted by IRENA with national data in the cases of Austria (BNT,
2017), Germany (O’Sullivan et al., 2018), Spain (APPA, 2017) and the United Kingdom (REA, 2017).
In India new solar installations reached a
record 9.6 GW in 2017, eectively doubling
the total installed base of the technology in the country.
Employment in solar PV increased by 36% to reach
164 400 jobs, of which 92 400 were in on-grid
applications. IRENA estimates that the construction
and installation segment of the value chain accounts
for 46% of these jobs, with O&M and manufacturing
representing 35% and 19%, respectively.
Manufacturing of solar PV modules is limited, given the
availability of inexpensive imports, mostly from China. The
market share of domestic firms decreased from 13% in 2014-
15 to 7% in 2017-18. As of September 2017, the average price
for imported modules was USD 0.39 per Watt compared
with USD 1.44/W for domestic products and a large
share of the existing manufacturing capacity stands idle
(Sraisth, 2018).
India had the world’s fifth-largest additions to wind
capacity in 2017 at 4.1 GW and the fourth-largest
cumulative capacity (GWEC, 2018). IRENA estimates
that employment in the sector stood at 60 500.
In 2016, the most recent year for which
estimates are available, the number of jobs
in the European Union reached 1.19 million, up from
1.16 million in 2015. The numbers for both years reflect
a significant revision of estimates following adoption of
a new methodology (EurObserv’ER, 2018), and cannot
be directly compared with the results reported in
previous years
21
.
The European solid biomass and wind power industries
are providing the most jobs, at about 389 000 and
344 000, respectively. Both added jobs during 2016.
Biomass use is receiving growing policy support, but
half of Europe’s jobs in this sector are in just six countries:
Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Poland and Finland.
The wind industry remains one of the bright spots of
the European renewable energy sector. Half of the top
ten countries with the largest installed capacity in the
world are European. Germany, the United Kingdom,
France and Belgium were among the ten countries
worldwide that added the most new capacity in 2017
(GWEC, 2018).
RENEWABLE ENERGY AND JOBS – ANNUAL REVIEW 2018
19
22 Deloitte and Wind Europe (2017) provides a more conservative estimate of about 263 000 jobs. This is based on the number of jobs reported by each wind
energy company’s financial statement (direct jobs) and indices of productivity per MW installed and serviced (indirect jobs). This study estimates that manu-
facturing accounted for 53% of all direct jobs in 2016; services represented 27%, wind farm development contributed 15% and the remainder of jobs related to
the production and installation of offshore substructures.
23 Eurobserv’ER includes CSP in the solar thermal category.
24 EurObserv’ER includes the growing heat pump sector in its reporting on renewable energy employment and published an estimate of 249 400 jobs in 2016 for all
three types of equipment, ground source, hydrothermal and air source pumps. However, the largest segment by far, air source pumps, cannot unambiguously be
assumed to be renewable in character. Consequently, IRENA adjusted its own figure to the much smaller number reported. This is of particular consequence for
Italy, Spain and France.
25 Waste-to-energy technologies add another 7 700 jobs.
IRENA estimates the European Union’s wind power
employment in 2016 at close to 344 000.
22
Germany’s
160 000 jobs represented 47% of this total, followed
by the United Kingdom (41 800 jobs) whose onshore
market almost tripled in 2016. Denmark (26 600), the
Netherlands (21 500) and France (18 800) were next,
followed by Spain (18 000) (EurObserv’ER, 2018;
APPA, 2017; REA, 2017).
Oshore, European countries added a record 3.1 GW
of new wind capacity during 2017, double the pace
of 2016. The United Kingdom and Germany are the
global leaders in oshore wind, followed by Denmark
and the Netherlands (Wind Europe, 2017 and 2018a).
The Netherlands’ oshore capacity quadrupled in 2016
with close to 700 megawatts (MW) of capacity added,
doubling the country’s total wind jobs to an estimated
21 500 (EurObserv’ER, 2018).
The European Union’s biofuels sector employed about
200 000 people, up from 172 000 in 2015. The solar PV
industry continued to shrink in 2016, from 108 500 jobs
in 2015 to 99 600 in 2016. The solar thermal market
23
contracted by 4.6% in 2016, a reflection of low gas
prices and the lack of steady support policies. Poland’s
solar thermal market dropped by half, as did the
number of jobs. IRENA estimates employment in the
European Union’s geothermal sector at 25 000 jobs, of
which heat pumps accounted for 16 000 jobs
24
.
Renewable energy employment estimates
have also been revised for Germany. In
2016, the downward trend in evidence since 2011 came
to an end. At 325 000 jobs, the figure was slightly
higher than during the preceding year. The wind
industry was the largest renewables employer in 2016,
up 10 000 jobs. In fact, the 160 100 people working in
Germany’s wind sector equal the number of workers
in the next ten-largest European countries combined.
Most other renewable energy technologies added a
small number of jobs. However, solar PV employment
was down to about 35 800 jobs in 2016, from
38 100 in 2015 (O’Sullivan et al., 2018). The 1.53 GW and
1.75 GW of capacity newly installed in 2016 and 2017,
respectively, was less than a quarter of the 2012 peak
of 7.6 GW (BSW, 2016, 2018). It also falls short of the
government’s target of 2.5 GW (Enkhardt, 2018).
The United Kingdom ranks second in
Europe for its number of renewable energy
jobs. The Renewable Energy Association (REA, 2017)
puts total employment at 118 200 jobs for 2015/16
25
.
The largest sector is wind power, with 41 800 jobs.
Solar PV accounts for 13 700 jobs, while biofuels and
solid biomass each contribute about 10 000 jobs. Solar
heating and cooling is just below the 10 000 threshold.
France is Europe’s third-largest renew-
ables employer, with 107 000 jobs; solid
biomass and biofuels each employ more than 30 000
people. Poland, Spain and Italy were the fourth-, fifth-
and sixth-largest European employers.
RENEWABLE ENERGY AND JOBS – ANNUAL REVIEW 2018
20
26 This figure excludes large hydropower but includes waste-to-energy technologies.
27 In the absence of direct employment data, this calculation is based on the assumption that employment closely tracks the 10% reduction in demand during 2017.
In a number of countries in various parts of Asia –
including Bangladesh, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines,
the Republic of Korea, Singapore and Turkey – most
renewable energy jobs are related to solar PV. In other
regions of the world, Australia, Mexico and South Africa
also report significant numbers of solar PV jobs.
Bangladesh’s solar home systems
programme has successfully deployed
more than 4 million systems in rural areas. However,
lack of coordination among government entities in rural
electrification has recently been causing diculties.
Following grid connection through Bangladesh’s
Rural Electrification Board, many households stopped
making instalment payments on their system. New
installations have reportedly fallen to an average of
2 000 a month from as high as 60 000 to 70 000
in earlier years. The Infrastructure Development
Company Limited’s (IDCOL’s) programme was also
weakened by the free distribution of solar panels under
the government’s TR-Kabikha project (The Asian Age,
2018). All of this has translated into reduced solar PV
employment, estimated by IRENA at 133 000 jobs.
Japanese demand for solar PV declined
by 10% in 2017, following a 23% decline in
2016. The most recent decline was the lingering result
of reductions in feed-in taris, land shortages and
limited grid access for new projects. Existing projects
already in the pipeline are being completed and few
new, large commercial and utility-scale projects are
being approved (Bermudez, 2018). According to a
private credit analysis firm, Tokyo Shoko Research
(TSR), there were 88 bankruptcies in Japan’s solar
industry during 2017, a sharp increase of 35% over
2016. According to TSR, 42 of the 88 companies cited
“poor sales” as the main cause for entering bankruptcy
proceedings (EnergyTrend, 2018). IRENA estimates
2017 employment at some 271 500 jobs, a reduction of
around 30 000 jobs from 2016
27
.
Malaysia’s domestic solar PV market is
quite small, but its PV manufacturing industry
is significant. Most of the facilities were set up as a result
of foreign direct investment by companies in China,
Japan, the Republic of Korea and the United States.
Supported by the Malaysian Investment Development
Authority, Malaysia has some 250 companies involved
in upstream activities such as polysilicon, wafer, cell and
module production, and also in components such as
inverters and system integrators (IEA-PVPS, 2017). The
country’s Sustainable Energy Development Authority
estimates that solar PV provides some 40 300 jobs. SEDA
(2018) puts biomass energy and biogas employment at
about 10 700 jobs, and small hydropower at more than
6 100 jobs. Further, IRENA’s employment-factor-based
calculation estimated close to 30 000 jobs in biodiesel
development, for a total of about 87 400 renewable
energy jobs.
RENEWABLE ENERGY AND JOBS – ANNUAL REVIEW 2018
21
The Philippines reports having more
than 34 000 people working in the solar
PV industry, a number similar to the IRENA estimate of
the country’s biofuels employment if informal jobs in
the agricultural supply chain are included. In addition,
the Philippines has about 33 000 jobs in small hydro
and more than 14 000 in wind power (Neri, 2018).
The
Republic of Korea employs about
8 100 people in the manufacturing and
distribution of solar PV (Korea Energy Agency, 2018).
Singapore reports 4 300 PV jobs, up from
3 900 in 2015.
In Western Asia,
Turkey has seen its
solar PV sector expand with the help of
local content rules (Hirtenstein and Ant, 2016). New
installations in 2017 reached 2.6 GW, assisted by a year-
end installations rush before feed-in tari rates were
set to be reduced at the beginning of 2018 (Bhambhani,
2018). Turkey had 33 400 people working in the solar
PV sector and another 16 600 people in solar heating
and cooling in 2017. Wind power provided about
14 200 jobs and small hydro, geothermal power and
biogas accounted for another 18 000 jobs. Altogether,
the number of people working in renewable energy
thus totals about 84 000
26
(Akata, 2018).
Australia added 1.3 GW of utility-scale
solar PV capacity during 2017, a record. The
country is likely to install more than 3.5 GW during 2018.
It is estimated that this activity directly supported the
employment of about 4 400 people during 2017. Another
5 500 people were directly employed in the design, sale
and installation of roof-top solar systems. The wind
power sector accounts for 11 200 jobs (Green Energy
Markets, 2018), for a total of about 21 000. This uptick
comes after a number of years during which Australia’s
renewable energy employment had declined.
Mexico reports about 10 940 solar PV
and about 18 000 wind jobs, many of
them producing equipment for the neighbouring US
market. The country also has about 17 700 people in
the small hydro sector, 14 400 in solid biomass and
7 600 in geothermal power, for a combined total of
68 600 jobs (Vega, 2018).
Information on renewable energy employment on the
African continent remains limited.
According to government estimates,
Egypt has some 3 000 solar PV jobs.
In
Ghana, Africa’s largest solar PV project,
the 155 MW Nzema plant, was estimated to
have created 500 jobs during its 2-year construction,
and 200 permanent operations jobs. The facility was
likely to induce another 2 100 local jobs through sub-
contracting and demand for goods and services (Blue
Energy, 2015).
The largest level of employment on the
continent is found in
South Africa,
which, with the help of domestic content legislation,
has generated an estimated 15 000 jobs in solar PV
and close to 8 900 in the concentrated solar power
(CSP) industry. Wind power adds another 10 400 jobs.
Including much smaller employment in the small hydro
sector, the country has close to 35 000 renewable
energy sector jobs (Nxumalo, 2018).
Important developments are taking place in the o-
grid sector (Box 3).
RENEWABLE ENERGY AND JOBS – ANNUAL REVIEW 2018
22
BOX 3. OFF-GRID DEVELOPMENTS
New business models such as the “pay-as-you-go”
(PAYG) approach that is spreading in parts of Sub-
Saharan Africa are increasing the aordability of small
solar home systems for poorer rural households.
In the PAYG model, consumers use their phones to pay
a fixed up-front cost for a solar home system (typically
a small solar panel bundled with a battery, lights,
mobile phone chargers and possibly appliances), and
subsequently regular instalments until the cost of the
system is paid o.
These business models are supported in some
countries by the removal of import taris and
other taxes or fees on solar PV panels and other
components. As growing numbers of panels are sold,
employment is generated in segments of the supply
chain, especially in sales and distribution, installation
and O&M.
However, as long as there is only a limited domestic
capacity (or none at all) to assemble equipment or
manufacture components, economic multipliers and
the resulting employment and other benefits will
accrue elsewhere, and eorts to boost rural
development will remain limited. Indeed, the availability
of cheap imports acts as a powerful restraint against
the development of even a limited local industry. As
solar deployments scale up, the import bill rises as
well. Removing taris on imports of raw materials or
components needed to produce this equipment could
shift the economics and spur development of a local
industry. This could be further supported by policies
to certify qualified supplier firms, establish product
quality standards (to avoid the spread of poor-quality
products) and provide worker education and training
programmes (Mama, 2017).
In East Africa, M-KOPA and other start-ups have
been the main protagonists of the PAYG model. Until
recently, the company exclusively sold imported PV
panels. During 2016-17, however, M-KOPA reported
selling more than 100 000 solar PV panels that were
made in Kenya by Solinc East Africa. Cumulatively,
these panels have a generating capacity of close to
2 MW. In coming years, the company hopes to source
all its panels from Kenya – over the next two years,
this will amount to half a million panels representing
6.6 MW of power. The benefits include a shorter supply
chain and (facilitated also by government-required
product certifications [Mama, 2017]) a greater degree
of quality control.
RENEWABLE ENERGY AND JOBS – ANNUAL REVIEW 2018
23
Starting operations in 2011, Solinc’s PV module factory
in Naivasha was the first such plant in East and
Central Africa, and currently serves markets in Kenya,
Uganda and the United Republic of Tanzania. Majority
Kenyan-owned since 2015, it employs 130 Kenyans,
with plans to hire an additional 30 engineers over
the next two years to fulfill growing M-KOPA orders
(M-KOPA, 2018; Solinc East Africa, n.d.). The company
has weathered repeated changes in value-added tax
(VAT) and import duty regulations on solar products
and components during 2013-15 that aected pricing
and demand (Mulupi, 2016).
For all but the leading PAYG companies such as
M-KOPA, BBOXX, Fenix or d.light, a key challenge is
how to raise sucient capital to finance the upfront
cost of solar panels while households’ payments
are spread out over many instalments. A particular
diculty is that local financial institutions have been
reluctant to provide financing. The resulting reliance
on international investors has meant that the inherent
transaction costs and currency risks, along with profit
expectations, are translating into solar home system
prices in East Africa that cost twice as much as
comparable systems in Bangladesh, where a successful
microcredit model has led to the installation of more
than 4 million solar home systems (Sanyal et al., 2016).
Higher costs prevent greater uptake of decentralised
o-grid solutions and that in turn limits employment
opportunities.
The International Finance Corporation (IFC, 2018)
observes that since 2016, there has been a somewhat
greater prevalence of local currency financing, mostly
via agreements between the World Bank and Sub-
Saharan African countries. Further, in early 2018,
a potentially ground-breaking financing deal was
announced under which the o-grid solar company
BBOXX secured USD 4 million worth of debt financing
from the Union Togolaise de Banque (UTB), the first
such deal involving a local Sub-Saharan African bank.
In late 2017, BBOXX won a contract from the Togolese
government to provide 300 000 solar systems by
2022. The company aims to create more than 1 000
direct jobs in Togo over five years (Kenning, 2018).
Domestic sourcing of solar
panels and components
spurs rural development
and creates jobs.
Local currency nancing
can lower the cost of
renewables for households.
RENEWABLE ENERGY AND JOBS – ANNUAL REVIEW 2018
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
24
THE WAY
FORWARD
The role of renewables in the global energy system
keeps expanding. This process is key to stabilising the
global climate, avoiding environmental degradation,
and improving human health. As the global transition
towards a more sustainable energy system unfolds,
the world’s renewable energy workforce will continue
to expand. IRENA’s analysis suggests that jobs in the
sector could rise from 10.3 million in 2017 to 23.6 million
in 2030 and 28.8 million in 2050, in line with IRENA’s
more sustainable energy pathway (IRENA, 2018a).
A better understanding of employment along the value
chain helps decision makers formulate appropriate
policies to support the expansion of the renewable
energy sector. This entails not just deployment and
industrial policies, but also education and training of
new workers, eorts to retain skilled and experienced
employees (who demand attractive wages, good
working conditions and opportunities for career
advancement), and policies to ensure a just and fair
transition from the present energy system to one that
features renewables more strongly.
IRENA will continue to provide sound data and analysis
on the topic through further editions of this publication
and by contributing to the growing knowledge base on
the socio-economic benefits of renewables, including its
report series on Leveraging Local Capacities to analyse
skill requirements along the segments of the value chain
of dierent renewable energy technologies (Figure 9).
FIGURE 9. IRENA’S KNOWLEDGE BASE ON RENEWABLE ENERGY EMPLOYMENT
Renewable Energy and Jobs
December 2013
International Renewable Energy Agency
IRENA
IRENA woRkINg pApER
Renewable
Energy Jobs:
StAtUS, PROSPECtS & POlICIES
BIOfUElS AND gRID-CONNECtED
ElECtRICIty gENERAtION
Renewable Energy and Jobs
Annual Review 2014
MAY 2014
Renewable Energy
Jobs & Access
A SERIES OF CASE STUDIES
Burkina FasovBiomass
PROJECT PROFILE
FAFASO (“Foyers Améliorés au Faso” i.e., improved stoves in Burkina Faso) is a Dutch- German Energy Partner-
ship Energising Development (GIZ-EnDEV) project that commenced in 2006 and is sup ported by co-financing
from the Dutch Foreign Ministry (DGIS) and the German Ministry of International Cooperation (BMZ).
FAFASO covers all of Burkina Faso, with a focus on the biggest towns, Ouagadougou and Bobo Dioulasso, as well
as the South-western and Eastern regions. The project helps to disseminate improved cookstoves (ICS) that save
35–80% of wood or charcoal compared to the traditional three-stone-fire. In 2006–2011, about 180 000 ICS were
sold to households, institutions and productive units.
Most of the stoves disseminated are mobile, metal household stoves that are 35– 45% more ecient. For poorer
households, a mobile ceramic stove is also available and saves 40% fuel.
In addition, FAFASO oers big mobile metal stoves for restaurants and school canteens (saving around 60%) as
well as mud stoves for traditional beer brewing (saving about 80%).
The overall objective was to train ICS producers and help them sell the stoves commercially, so that dissemination
would continue even in the absence of subsidies.
The project entails marketing (large-scale eorts via TV and radio, small-scale cooking demonstrations, sal es
events, etc.), introduction of an ICS quality label, and eorts to strengthen the commercial supply chain.
JOBS AND TRAINING
Two thirds of the overall budget of USD 3.2 million (up to late 2011) has gone into training and marketing eort s;
fixed costs for project personnel, etc. account for one third.
A typical training s ession involves an average of 30 trainee s. By the end of 2010, FAFASO had trained a total
of 729 people — 285 metal smiths, 264 masons, and 180 potter s. The numbers expanded dramatically in 2009,
when the project began to train masons and potters. In 2010, when very few potters were trained, the numb ers
were smaller.
These numbers cannot be considered to constitute new jobs. Rather, the individuals concer ned are experienced
craftsmen. The training oers them higher qualification s and an opportunity for a sustained role fo r themselves
in the market. Many of the metal smiths and masons do employ apprentices.
Most of the potters are women in rural areas, whose main occupation remains work in the field and the household.
But they acquire knowledge that helps them generate additional income (and cope with competition from plastic
products). Pottery is caste-bound work dominated by certain families that are unlikely to employ apprentices.
As part of the training, all producers are taught to calculate the prices for the stoves, putting them in a better
position in markets.
SUPPLY CHAIN
Upstream Linkages
The stoves are produced domestically, in a decentralised, small-scale fashion. In general, the materials used
are indigenous. Previously imported scrap metal is now locally procured, but this does not necessarily indicate
increased demand and jobs.
June 2012
Renewable Energy
Jobs & Access
RENEWABLE
ENERGY
BENEFITS:
MEASURING THE
ECONOMICS
Renewable Energy and Jobs
Annual Review 2015
2015
RENEWABLE ENERGY AND JOBS – ANNUAL REVIEW 2018
25
TABLE 1. ESTIMATED DIRECT AND INDIRECT JOBS IN RENEWABLE ENERGY WORLDWIDE,
BY INDUSTRY, 2016-17
Source: IRENA jobs database.
Note: Figures provided in the table are the result of a comprehensive review of primary information sources by national entities such as ministries and statistical
agencies, and secondary data sources such as regional and global studies. This is an on-going effort to update and refine available knowledge. Totals may not add up
due to rounding.
a. Power and heat applications.
b. Traditional biomass is not included.
c. Although 10 MW is often used as a threshold, definitions are inconsistent
across countries.
d. Includes ground-based heat pumps for EU countries.
e. Direct jobs only.
f. Includes waste-to-energy (28 000), ocean energy (1 000) and jobs which
are not technology specific (8 000).
g. About 225 400 jobs in sugarcane processing and 168 000 in ethanol pro-
cessing in 2016; also includes rough estimate of 200 000 indirect jobs in
equipment manufacturing, and 202 000 jobs in biodiesel in 2017.
h. Includes 237 000 jobs for ethanol and about 62 200 jobs for biodiesel in 2017.
i. Based on employment-factor calculations for biomass power and CHP.
j. Combines small and large hydropower. Hence the country total with large
hydropower is the same as the total without large hydropower.
k. All EU data are from 2016, and include Germany.
The figure is derived from EurObserv’ER data, adjusted with national data for
Germany, the United Kingdom and Austria, as well as IRENA calculations.
l. EU hydropower data combine small and large facilities. Hence the
regional total with large hydropower is the same as the total without large
hydropower.
World
China Brazil
United
States India Germany Japan
Total
European
Union
k
Solar
Photovoltaic
3 365 2 216 10 233 164 36 272 100
Liquid
Biofuels
1 931 51 795
g
299
h
35 24 3 200
Wind
Power
1 148 510 34 106 61 160 5 344
Solar
Heating/
Cooling
807 670 42 13 17 8.9 0.7 34
Solid
Biomass
a,b
780 180 80
i
58 41 389
Biogas 344 145 7 85 41 71
Hydropower
(Small)
c
290 95 12 9.3 12 7.3
j
74
l
Geothermal
Energy
a,d
93 1.5 35 6.5 2 25
CSP
34 11 5.2 0.6 6
Total
(excluding Large
Hydropower)
8 829
f
3 880 893 786 432 332 283 1 268
Hydropower
(Large)
c, e
1 514 312 184 26 289 7.3
j
20 74
l
Total
(including Large
Hydropower)
10 343
4 192 1 076 812 721 332
j
303 1 268
l
RENEWABLE ENERGY AND JOBS – ANNUAL REVIEW 2018
26
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PHOTO CREDITS
All pictures are lincense free from shutterstock and iStock,
apart from:
page 17: ARE-ENERGIA; www.ruralelec.org
page 22:
Bangladeshi village celebrating as they display
their first solar panel; © ILO
page 22: Mobisol; www.plugintheworld.com
page 23:
ANGAZA_solar-power-africa; Ariel Schwartz
page 23: Georgina Goodwin; M-KOPA Solar
© IRENA 2018
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such material.
ISBN: 978-92-9260-062-4
Citation: IRENA (2018), Renewable Energy and Jobs - Annual
Review 2018, International Renewable Energy Agency, Abu
Dhabi.
ABOUT IRENA
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their transition to a sustainable energy future, and serves as
the principal platform for international co-operation, a centre
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er, ocean, solar and wind energy, in the pursuit of sustainable
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This report was developed under the guidance of Rabia Ferroukhi
(IRENA) and authored by Michael Renner, Celia Garcia-Baños,
Divyam Nagpal (IRENA), and Arslan Khalid (consultant).
The report benefited greatly from the modeling work on large
hydropower by Ulrike Lehr and Maximilian Banning (GWS) and
input from Luca Angelino (IRENA).
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ISBN: 978-92-9260-062-4
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Renewable Energy
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