New Report Foresees Opportunities for Renewable Energy Jobs

Climate Council’s latest report, Renewable Energy Jobs: Future Growth in Australia compares two different scenarios regarding the future of the renewable energy sector in the country for the next fifteen years.

The first scenario assumes a “business as usual” industry growth rate and projects the share of renewable source generated electricity to increase from the current 15 per cent to 34 per cent by 2030.

Alternatively, assuming Australia goes for a more aggressive approach, the share of renewable energy rises to 50 per cent by 2030.

Net job gains in the first scenario are of 14.000, while under the second scenario, that number doubles, with 15.000 jobs available in construction and 13.000 in operations.

In construction, 70 per cent of employment comes from rooftop PV installation. Other opportunities come from building wind turbines and non-rooftop solar PV, says the Climate Council report.

Black and brown coal will still be accounting for tthe majority of operation jobs, at 53 per cent, followed by wind (19 per cent), rooftop PV (11 per cent), hydro and solar PV (9 and 4 per cent respectively).

The highest job growth per capita will happen in South Australia, while highest overall jobs net growth will occur in New South Wales.

The Climate Council says Australia would benefit much more from the more aggressive approach, as it would gain many more jobs than it will lose from coal fired stations shutting down.

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