The Inflation Reduction Act will generate more than 1 million wind and solar jobs by 2035
The Inflation Reduction Act will generate more than 1 million wind and solar jobs by 2035
The Inflation Reduction Act is paving the way for a slew of renewable energy projects in the United States, and the country will need lots of workers to build up that infrastructure. A new analysis shows that the Inflation Reduction Act will be responsible for more than 1 million additional wind and solar jobs by 2035.
So what exactly will these jobs be and do we have enough workers to fill them?
The staffing question looms larger with every renewable energy project, according to Aaron Brickman with clean energy think tank RMI.
For example, there are not enough electricians, “much less enough, you know, say underwater welders for offshore wind space,” he said.
This is where states come in, Brickman added — to coordinate with industry and training programs so they can attract more projects in the future.
University of Minnesota’s Joel Haskard connects Minnesotans with technical education or jobs in clean energy.
“That’s why I’m sort of shouting out to the heavens, you know, ‘Consider being an electrician! Consider being electrician!’” he said.
As projects are built, construction workers will also be in high demand. But most new jobs will be in manufacturing, per Lara Skinner with Cornell’s Climate Jobs Institute.
“This is especially true for wind,” she said. “It takes a lot of work to manufacture the component parts for an onshore or offshore wind turbine — and an offshore wind turbine, there’s about 8,000 parts.”
To staff up these manufacturing sites, she said that employers need to offer competitive salaries and benefits.
“If workers have access to lifelong training, if they can really support their families and communities, then I don’t think that we have a shortage of workers,” Skinner said.
But those who need work — like coal workers facing layoffs — may not be able to step into these new clean energy jobs, said Harvard University’s Gordon Hanson.
“They’re in quite different places,” he said. “And workers who are losing their jobs in fossil fuel industries, have not been proven to be very mobile.”
Investing in education in those communities, he added, can help people move into new industries and stay employed.
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