The San Francisco Bay Area metropolitan area created more than 10,517 new jobs in the growing solar industry last year, according to a report released today by The Solar Foundation. The metropolitan area, comprising San Francisco, Alameda, Marin, Contra Costa, and San Mateo County counties, is now home to 26,046 solar jobs, an increase of 67% from 2015 figures. The findings highlight the enormous jobs potential for a transition to 100 percent clean and renewable energy in the Bay Area, as well as the opportunity for the solar industry to be a leader in creating more family-sustaining, union jobs across the region.
The county with the largest gain in solar jobs in the metropolitan region from 2015 to 2016 was San Francisco, with 6,831 new solar jobs — up 185% in one year. San Francisco’s solar industry has benefited from the city’s commitment to transition to 100% renewable electricity by 2030. Strategies to encourage solar — from breaking down barriers for renters to expanding access to residents at all income levels to streamlining solar permitting — have fueled the rapid growth in solar jobs.
San Francisco is among 25 U.S. cities that have now committed to transition entirely to clean and renewable energy between 2030 and 2035. Cities including major metropolises like San Diego and Salt Lake City, and smaller towns like Georgetown, Texas and Abita Springs, Louisiana, are among the places that have made the commitment.
The Sierra Club is working with residents and city leaders to get Oakland and Richmond to join San Francisco on the list of cities committed to transitioning to 100% clean energy. Both cities are well positioned to do so; Richmond is a member of a local Community Choice clean energy program (Marin Clean Energy, or MCE), which reinvests ratepayer funds back into the local economy to develop local renewable energy infrastructure, thereby creating clean energy jobs. Contra Costa County as a whole gained 1,966 solar jobs this year, up 71% from 2015.
Oakland, meanwhile, has committed to joining the community-governed Community Choice power supplier East Bay Community Energy (EBCE), which will start providing greener energy to Alameda County residents in the spring of 2018. As with MCE, EBCE will spur the growth of clean energy jobs by investing in local renewable facilities. Alameda County is already seeing strong growth in this sector; it gained 2,763 solar jobs this year, up 60% from 2015.
“Clean and renewable energy like solar is putting people to work across the region,” said Brittany King, conservation manager for the Sierra Club San Francisco Bay Chapter. “Bay Area cities can and must go further in creating more opportunity and expanding prosperity for their residents by making a commitment to transition to 100 percent clean and renewable energy. By endorsing a vision of 100 percent clean energy in their communities, city leaders will spur even more innovation, launch new businesses, create good-paying jobs, and drive economic growth that benefits everyone.”
The release of The Solar Foundation’s study coincides with the Trump administration’s Executive Orders on climate change. Minda Berbeco, director of the Bay Chapter said, “While the Trump Administration wants to let power plants spew unlimited pollution into our air to pad corporate polluter profits, the reality is that they can’t stop local action that’s powering our nation’s transition away from fossil fuels to clean energy. Trump’s attack on safeguards for American families and the climate ignores reality — not just the reality of the climate crisis, but the reality that the clean energy economy is rapidly growing, creating jobs and safeguarding our air and water.”
Solar jobs listed in the report include both installation and construction jobs and non-installation jobs, including manufacturing, sales and distribution, project development, and other occupations that support the solar industry.
In February, The Solar Foundation released its 2016 National Solar Jobs Census, which found that the U.S. solar industry employed 260,077 workers. This figure includes the addition of over 51,000 solar workers over the previous year, representing a 25 percent growth in employment from 2015. Over the next 12 months, employers surveyed expect to see total solar industry employment increase by 10 percent to 286,335 solar workers.
Photo courtesy: Centre for Alternative Technology via Flickr Creative Commons.