China environment daily reported recently that the U.S. solar energy foundation released the annual national solar energy employment census report that in 2019, the number of jobs in the U.S. solar energy sector was nearly 250000, an increase of 5600 compared with 2018, a year-on-year increase of 2.3%.

According to the U.S. solar energy foundation, this is the first increase in employment in the U.S. national solar industry since 2018 after two consecutive years of decline. Although the total number of employees is still less than 250000 in 2017, it still marks the recovery of the U.S. solar industry. "Employment growth reflects the rapid expansion of the U.S. solar industry, which is closely related to the falling cost of solar technology."

According to the data of wood Mackenzie, an industry consulting and analysis institution, in 2019, the new installed capacity of solar energy in the United States reached 13 GW, double the 6 GW in 2018.

From the perspective of regional distribution, in 2019, the employment of solar energy industry in 31 states in the United States increased compared with that in 2018, especially in emerging regions. Among them, Georgia has the highest growth rate in the United States. In 2019, Georgia's solar industry provided a total of 4798 jobs, an increase of 30% year on year. At the same time, by the end of 2019, the number of employees in Florida's solar industry has reached 12200, an increase of 18% year on year, ranking the second in the United States.

In contrast, employment in the solar industry has declined in other places. California, for example, still has the largest number of jobs in the U.S. solar industry, but its employment has begun to decline compared with previous years. In 2019, the number of jobs in California's solar industry is

74300, down 3.4% year on year. In addition, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, Tennessee and other states have significantly reduced employment in the solar industry.

From the perspective of employment type, the number of employees in the two types of work of solar power plant installation and project development increased significantly. In 2019, the number of the above two types of jobs in the U.S. was 162100, an increase of about 7000 over 2018, accounting for nearly 2 / 3 of the total number of jobs in the U.S. solar industry. In addition, the total number of jobs in the manufacturing end of the solar industry has reached 34400.

Wood McKenzie predicted that, with solar power technology becoming cheaper and more competitive, the new installed capacity of solar energy in the United States will reach 18.5 gigawatts in 2020. Bloomberg new energy finance also believes that, driven by state and national policies, the new installed capacity of U.S. solar energy in 2020 will be considerable, and the main new installed capacity will come from large projects.

Source: China Environmental News