It is expected that there will be 468,000 direct and indirect jobs linked to this industry in 2030
The progress of the 21st century, the fight against climate change and the need to apply clean energies they have created a new job profile in Spain and around the world. A report by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), in collaboration with the International Labor Organization, certifies the growth of green employment and the opportunities in the renewable energy sector on the planet, with 700,000 new jobs in one year, despite multiple crises, and calls for specific industrial strategies to create stable supply chains and decent jobs.
The Minister for Transport, Mobility and the Urban Agenda, Raquel Sánchez, recently signed, for example, a collaboration protocol with the shipping company Maersk to promote the development of green marine fuels in Spain. Maersk’s goal is to produce millions of tons of e-methanol to power all its ships before 2040. The potential job creation is 85,000 direct and indirect jobs. Andalusia and Galicia would meet the conditions to accommodate two plants.
In the face of the growing offensive to stop climate change, the recovery after the covid pandemic, the national interest in localizing supply chains and creating jobs at home is growing. «Renewable energy jobs remain resilient and have proven to be a reliable engine of job creation. Boosting a national value chain will not only create business opportunities and new jobs for local people and communities. It also strengthens the reliability of the supply chain and contributes to greater energy security in general”, says Francesco La Camera, Director General of IRENA.
Nearly two-thirds of the current 12.7 million jobs are in Asia. China alone represents 42% of the world total, followed by the EU and Brazil, with 10% each, and the United States and India, with 7 percent each.
The solar energy It turned out to be the fastest growing sector. In 2021 it provided 4.3 million jobs on the planet, which is more than a third of the current global renewables workforce. The countries of Southeast Asia are becoming important manufacturing centers for solar photovoltaic energy. In Spain it is estimated that the number of jobs amounts to 31,500.
Wind energy employs 1.3 million people (23,900 jobs in Spain). Europe now accounts for about 40% of world wind power production and is the largest exporter of wind power equipment.
There are 2.4 million jobs directly related to hydraulic energy and the same number of jobs linked to biomass energy.
The report concludes that the continued expansion of renewable energy needs can create many millions of new jobs, if supported by the right policy packages, including worker training to ensure jobs are decent, high-quality quality, well paid and diversified.
Secondly, in 2019 three quarters of the new power installed in the world was renewable, and this figure increased in 2020 to more than 80%. This record was not due to the paralysis of the economy, because more than 260 GW renewables were installed in 2020, 50% more than the previous record for global installed power, according to a report by the Association of Renewable Energy Companies.
Spain: sun and wind
The reduction of wind and photovoltaic costs marked the step. More than 91% of the new renewable capacity took advantage of the sun and the wind. Spain, also influenced by the policies and objectives of Europe, has continued its progress towards a full energy transition: 4,503 renewable MW were connected to the grid, and 623 MW of self-consumption power were installed in 2020.
This data is especially valuable not only because it was achieved during a period of crisis and great uncertainty, but also because the vast majority of these projects went directly to the market, even in a year with abnormally low prices.
The study shows the main macroeconomic magnitudes of the Spanish renewable sector. It is an industry that experienced a 7.4% contraction in its direct contribution to GDP and that, despite this, represented, with 11,806 million euros, 1.05% of national GDP, which is reflected in employment . Companies in the renewable sector employ 58,724 workers directly and maintained 34,206 indirect jobs in other sectors, according to the latest data from the association.
If you add direct and indirect jobs, the renewable sector employed 92,930 workers and made exports worth 4,104 million euros in 2020, increasing its net export balance compared to the previous year to 1,977 million euros.
Renewables contributed 16.8% of our primary energy and generated 44% of our electricity. At the market level, they received 5,274 million in specific compensation and reduced the market price by 3,263 million.
The impact on our energy dependence is also quantifiable, as this green deployment saved 6,273 million euros in fossil imports and 1,301 million in emission rights into the atmosphere.
Last year, photovoltaic solar energy employed 31,500 people in Spain, while wind power employed 23,900. But the best is yet to come: jobs will continue to increase in the coming years. In such a way that the renewable energy market could generate a cumulative total of 468,000 jobs during this decade: 350,000 direct and 118,000 indirect.
Almost half of these jobs will be created in Andalusia, Castilla y León and Aragón. These are some of the conclusions collected in various reports, including the International Renewable Energy Agency.
A projection from the renewable energy marketer Unieléctrica details, in this sense, that to those 468,000 jobs that renewables will generate, we must add 280,000 in new forest management, 150,000 in livestock and extensive ecological agriculture and 160,000 in circular economy. In total, 1.13 million ‘green’ jobs by 2030.
According to the Unieléctrica report, last February 327,278 renewable MW were in the process of connecting to the grid, of which 213,255 MW correspond to photovoltaic technology, 92,132 MW to wind power, 2,528 MW to solar thermal and 19,363 to other sources of green generation.
Solar energy will be the one that will contribute the most to the generation of employmentTherefore, according to estimates by the Association of Renewable Energy Companies (APPA), of every 100 jobs created, 68 remain for about 20 years. In second place would be wind technology, in which 25 of every 100 jobs correspond to manufacturing or auxiliary companies, 64 to the installation area during the first year and 11 to the operations and maintenance section for 25 years.
Andalusia, paradise of green employment
By autonomous communities, Andalusia is the one with the greatest potential in terms of ‘green’ employment because, according to Unieléctrica estimates, it could create 106,000 direct and indirect jobs in the renewable energy sector during this decade. The region currently has requested the down payment of 55,924 photovoltaic MW and 4,426 wind MW.
In second place is Castilla y León, a community in which 62,000 jobs are expected to be created linked to renewable energies until 2030. It currently has 29,815 MW of photovoltaic energy and 19,740 MW of wind power in the process of connecting to the grid. The third region that will contribute the most to job creation is Aragon, with 58,000 jobs.
Next in this ranking are Castilla La Mancha (43,000 jobs will be created), the Valencian Community (40,000), Extremadura (32,000), Madrid (30,000), Catalonia (27,000), Galicia (22,500), Murcia (15,000); Navarra (9,600 jobs), the Basque Country (7,500); Canarias (5,500) and La Rioja (4,200). The list closes by autonomous communities Asturias (3,700 new jobs in the renewable energy sector in this decade), the Balearic Islands (2,300) and Cantabria (1,600).
Spain is also among the major exporters of wind equipment. In fact, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain accounted for more than three quarters of world exports in 2020.
The ranking in this area was as follows: Germany 30.1% of world exports of wind equipment, Denmark 26.3%, China 13.8%, the Netherlands 13.8%, Spain 8.3%, Brazil 2.4% and India 2, 4%.
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