Solar Foundation: Utah among nation's leaders in solar jobs

Utah’s top-15 ranking for states with the most sunny days has created a bright spot for the state’s employment numbers. The number of Utahns in the solar industry totaled 4,408 last year, ranking the state 14th in solar industry employment and seventh in solar jobs per capita.

The statistics were recently released by the Solar Foundation, a nonprofit organization working to accelerate adoption of solar energy.

The foundation’s “National Solar Jobs Census 2016” indicates that Utah saw year-over-year job growth of 65 percent in 2016. It pegged the 2015 job total in Utah at 2,679.

Nationally, solar industry employment grew by more than 51,000, a 25 percent increase over 2015 and the largest annual growth rate since the first census in 2010. The 2016 job total was 260,077. The foundation said that industry employment has nearly tripled since 2010.

California led the nation in total solar jobs, followed by Massachusetts, Texas, Nevada and Florida. Massachusetts was first per capita. The number of solar jobs increased in 44 of the 50 states last year.

The foundation’s study indicated that one out of every 50 new jobs added in the United States in 2016 was created by the solar industry, representing 2 percent of all new jobs. Solar jobs in the U.S. have increased at least 20 percent per year for the past four years. It said that over the next 12 months, employers surveyed expect to see total solar industry employment increase by 10 percent to 286,335 solar workers.

“With a near-tripling of solar jobs since 2010, the solar industry is an American success story that has created hundreds of thousands of well-paying jobs,” said Andrea Luecke, the foundation’s president and executive director.

“In 2016, we saw a dramatic increase in the solar workforce across the nation, thanks to a rapid decrease in the cost of solar panels and unprecedented consumer demand for solar installations. More than ever, it’s clear that solar energy is a low-cost, reliable, super-abundant American energy source that is driving economic growth, strengthening businesses, and making our cities smarter and more resilient.”

Solar job growth in 2016 took place in all job sectors, including a 26 percent growth in manufacturing companies to 38,121 jobs nationwide. Installation jobs increased by 14 percent to a total of 137,133. Project development jobs increased by 53 percent to 34,400, while sales and distribution jobs increased by 32 percent to 32,147.

Nine percent of solar workers nationwide are veterans, compared to 7 percent in the overall U.S. workforce. The report also found that the percentage of solar workers who are women increased from 24 percent in 2015 to 28 percent in 2016, the percentage of African-American solar workers increased from 5 percent to 7 percent, and the percentage of Latino/Hispanic solar workers increased from 11 percent to 17 percent.

The census, part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s “Energy and Employment Report” data collection effort, included more than 500,000 telephone calls and more than 60,000 emails to energy establishments in the U.S. between October and November 2016.

Details about the census are at SolarJobsCensus.org.