Photovoltaic solar is the sector that has created the most jobs across all renewables. 2.8 million people were employed in 2015.
In the history of the energy sector, the rise of solar power is one of the most remarkable stories. Little more than ten years ago, photovoltaic technology was underdeveloped, used by only a handful of pioneers and offering poor economic returns. The effort has paid off. Today solar is a solid economic reality, with revenues that have increased thirtyfold in a decade. A trend set to continue in the coming years, as GTM Research highlighted in its latest publication entitled "Global Solar Demand Monitor".
The growth of solar brings jobs with it. The latest report from the International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena) states that renewables worldwide provided employment, directly or indirectly, to 8.1 million people in 2015, 5 per cent more than the year before. The sector that created the most jobs is photovoltaic, with 2.8 million people employed (+11 per cent compared to 2014). Within this segment, employment grew most in Japan and the United States, remained stable in China, and declined in Europe.
According to the Solar Foundation, the American solar industry employed more than 260,000 workers nationwide in 2016. A figure well above the combined workforce of Apple, Google and Facebook. In the United States, solar jobs have grown by around 20 per cent every year for the past four years: for every 50 new jobs created, one belongs to the solar industry.
Last year alone, global demand for photovoltaics grew by more than 50 per cent: a leap driven by the collapse in solar technology costs. One example was the announcement by India's energy minister that, at auction, a record price for solar energy of 3.15 rupees (5 euro cents) per kilowatt-hour had been reached. Bloomberg New Energy Finance has estimated that over the next roughly 20 years, solar costs will fall further, declining by as much as 60 per cent.
In the near future, global solar demand will be more pronounced than at any point over the past seven years. Driven largely by a new wave of installations in China, the doubling of the Indian market in size, and falling prices, photovoltaic solar installations worldwide will grow by more than 9 per cent in 2017, reaching 85 gigawatts, more than double the installed capacity in 2014.