The pause in workforce growth is due to slowing solar installations, as the impacts of the energy crisis are lessened, and the roll out of solar is hampered by limited flexibility* in the system. At the upstream end of the value chain, European solar manufacturing has been facing significant challenges in the last 12 months, leading to production pauses and workforce reduction.
Walburga Hemetsberger, CEO of SolarPower Europe said: "Solar can offer more than 1 million workers a meaningful, quality career in their local communities. These job opportunities can’t be taken for granted. We urge the new EU leadership to improve regulatory conditions to add more solar, support EU solar manufacturers, and develop Europe’s strategy around solar skills.”
1 million solar jobs by 2027
The annual EU Solar Jobs Report has revised last year’s projection that the EU would reach 1 million solar jobs by 2025. Instead, the report identifies the need to reach this size of workforce by 2027, in order to deliver 88.5 GW of annual solar installations by then, in line with the continent's competitiveness, climate, and energy security goals.
Also see: Record annual growth of renewable jobs in 2023
At a national level, there has also been movement. Reflecting the 104% growth in its solar market from 2022 to 2023, Germany’s solar workforce surged to become the largest workforce in Europe, with 154,000 solar workers. Poland, previously the largest, fell to second place with 113,000 as its job-intense residential market slowed. Spain is in third place, with the emphasis on its less job-intense utility-scale sector delivering more GW capacity for fewer workers.
Also interesting: Central and Eastern Europe increasingly in the solar gigawatt class
To ensure that the solar workforce remains ready to deliver the continent’s primary decarbonisation tool through the second half of the decade, the EU Solar Jobs Report makes a number of policy recommendations:
Policy recommendations
1. Assessing the exact need for workers and skillsets at national level.
2. Creating a pan-renewable energy career path.
3. Including an electrification skills strategy under the upcoming EU Electrification Action Plan.
4. Boosting the visibility and allure of STEM education and careers.
5. Retraining workers from legacy-fossil industries.
6. Supporting the circulation of skills in Europe.
7. Developing solar-specific training within electrical professional training. (hcn)
