According to the report ‘Powering Jobs Growth with Green Energy’ which was released by, the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the Skill Council for Green Jobs (SCGJ), in 2019, nearly 100,000 workers are employed in the solar and wind industry, up from 19,800 in 2014.
Of these, 12,400 workers were employed in FY19 and 30,000 in FY18 by utility-scale solar, rooftop solar and wind energy projects.
Rapid capacity addition in India’s solar and wind sectors has been the primary factor behind the growth.
Achieving the 175 GW renewable energy target by 2022 could create over 330,000 jobs in the wind and solar sectors; as many as 230,000 additional employment between now and 2022.
The CEEW, NRDC, SCGJ analysis finds that 45,000 workers could be employed in solar module manufacturing in India as part of the 100 GW solar target.
The analysis also highlights that installing rooftop solar and other decentralized renewable energy technologies created significantly more employment than utility-scale solar and wind energy sectors.
Nearly 39,000 workers were employed for just 3.8 GW of total cumulative installed rooftop solar until FY19. In comparison, close to 38,000 workers were employed for 26.2 GW of utility-scale solar and over 23,000 workers were employed for 35.6 GW of total cumulative wind energy installed.
However, policy certainty, the government support and reduction in the cost of finance will be key to sustaining the growth of the renewable energy markets and the renewable energy workforce.
Renewable energy jobs growth slowed in 2019 because of the 20 per cent decline in capacity additions in the solar and wind sector.
The goods and services tax (GST), imposition of safeguard duty, payment delays by power distribution companies, lack of finance and infrastructure constraints were key reasons behind the slowdown.
Reference- Economic Times, ‘Powering Jobs Growth with Green Energy’ Report