Clean Energy Sector Drives Jobs Creation In India
At the times when the county is worried about its stagnant job creation portfolio across various sector, clean energy takes a sweeping lead. Moving towards the 2022 target, solar and wind energy sector is anticipated to employ more than 3, 00,000 new workers. Out of this, the majority of the employment would come from solar rooftop segment and the remaining from ground utility and wind industries.
In a study prepared by Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), both the industries currently employ around 21,000 workforces and are likely to increase the same by at least 10 per cent and employ an estimated over 25,000 people. The supply chain of the employment varies from business development to design and construction.
The study estimates that India's clean energy goals have the potential to put 34,600 people to work in wind power, 58,600 in utility solar and 238,000 in rooftop solar jobs over the next five years.
"Eighty per cent of the new clean energy workforce will be employed during the construction phase. However, despite these being contractual jobs, the large pipeline of renewable energy projects creates enough opportunities for workers to stay employed. Also, since most of these jobs are in the rooftop solar PV segment, central and state governments must provide greater policy support to the rooftop sector", says Neeraj Kuldeep, programme associate, CEEW.
Solar jobs would be distributed fairly evenly across the country, with Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh estimated to have the maximum number of solar jobs. However, wind jobs were likely to be concentrated in a few States that have high wind potential.
The findings were based on the survey of 37 solar companies, 8 solar manufacturers and 9 wind companies and supported by the think tank, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). There an additional employment opportunity in the solar rooftop segment, if the domestic manufacturing of solar modules is given the right pushes. The study also suggests supporting the development of localised training centres led by the private sector to source construction jobs locally.
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