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Summary:

Clean energy companies added almost 150,000 jobs in 2023, growing more than three times faster than overall U.S. employment to 3,460,406 clean energy jobs nationwide. Last year’s jobs spike corresponds with the first full year of historic clean energy investments and incentives under the landmark federal Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Only the post-pandemic recovery surge of 2021 (152,000 jobs) added more new jobs in a single year.

Every clean energy sector grew at least twice as fast as overall national employment. Clean vehicles saw double-digit growth for the third consecutive year. Energy efficiency continued to lead the clean economy in total jobs. Jobs in manufacturing and other services (including vehicle maintenance and repair) accounted for nearly 60 percent of all new clean energy jobs.

Over the past three years, clean energy jobs increased 14 percent to nearly 3.5 million workers. By comparison, that’s more jobs than there are nurses nationwide. The 149,170 new clean energy jobs created in 2023 accounted for 6.4 percent of all jobs created economywide, and nearly 60 percent of all jobs in the entire energy sector.

This growth sets the stage for the next several years as the industry begins to feel the full impact from historic investments and incentives in the IRA. Three hundred and forty major new clean energy projects have been announced across 40 states and Puerto Rico since the IRA passed. In those announcements, companies have said they are creating more than 109,000 new jobs while investing over $126 billion in private-sector capital.

Key Findings

RENEWABLE GENERATION: Renewable generation sectors added more than 25,000 jobs in 2023, led by solar (+18,400) and wind (+5,700). In all, almost 560,000 Americans now work in renewable generation— a 14 percent increase since 2020. 

ENERGY EFFICIENCY: Energy efficiency remains the single-largest employer across the entire energy sector, employing nearly 2.3 million Americans. The sector accounted for half of all new clean energy jobs in 2023, adding nearly 75,000 workers (+3.4%). 

STORAGE + GRID MODERNIZATION: The storage and grid modernization sector added over 7,000 jobs (+4.6%) and now supports nearly 160,000 workers—more than there are highway maintenance workers.5 Jobs making power grids more resilient and able to handle more wind and solar generation led the sector, growing 5 percent followed by battery and energy storage (+4.3%). Since 2020, the sector increased employment by 15 percent. 

CLEAN VEHICLES: Clean vehicle makers continue to lead all sectors in growth, adding over 40,000 jobs (+11.0%). Electric vehicles (EVs) led the sector, adding over 17,000 jobs (+12.9%), followed closely by hybrid EVs with 15,900 jobs added (+10.5%). Over the past three years, clean vehicle jobs have jumped nearly 60 percent. The sector continued to outgrow the gas- and diesel-powered vehicle industry (+1.5%) and now employs over 410,000 workers. 

BIOFUELS: The smallest clean energy sector, biofuels added over 1,200 jobs in 2023. Since 2020, the sector has increased employment by 12 percent to more than 

2024 Clean Energy Employment Toplines

FOCUS: Toyota announces $8 billion EV battery plant expansion in Liberty, N.C.

North Carolina has been actively courting investments from Japan for more than 40 years. But since the state first opened its economic development office in Tokyo in 1978, no other investment comes close to matching what the Japanese carmaker Toyota announced on the last day of October – $8 billion to add eight EV lithium-ion battery production lines to its fast-growing plant in the small Piedmont town of Liberty.

The project is expected to create 3,000 jobs. Toyota first announced it was building an EV factory in Liberty two years ago. October’s announcement was the third time it expanded on those plans, with the company’s total investments in North Carolina now expected to approach $14 billion. That represents the largest economic development project in North Carolina history, and it will help rejuvenate an area hit hard by the decline of the once-dominant textiles, tobacco and furniture industries.

“Toyota’s latest expansion in North Carolina is monumental,” North Carolina state senator Phil Berger said in a press release.

Toyota’s announcement is also by far the largest in terms of investment dollars that E2 has tracked across the entire country since the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) was signed into law in August 2022. (The second-largest investment E2 has tracked across all states and sectors in that time was also in North Carolina: In September 2022, Durham-based Wolfspeed announced a $5 billion manufacturing facility for efficient silicon carbide materials and devices with applications in industries including renewables, energy storage and EVs.)

Elsewhere in the state last month, a company called Atuel said it will soon begin producing 5,000 fast DC car chargers annually in Greensboro, creating 400 jobs. Along the coast south of Wilmington, Epsilon Advanced Materials Inc. will invest nearly $650 million and create 500 jobs making battery components. Those jobs will have an average annual salary of $52,000 – about 12 percent higher than Brunswick County’s current average wage.

Not to be outdone, Indiana also racked up three big clean economy announcements last month. These include a $3.2 billion joint-venture battery gigafactory in Kokomo from Stellantis and Samsung and an $800 million solar manufacturing plant Canadian Solar is building near the Ohio River in Jeffersonville. That facility will be able to crank out about 20,000 panels a day. Combined, Indiana’s three announcements are expected to create 2,800 jobs.

Notably, all six announcements from both North Carolina and Indiana came from overseas, underscoring just how effective the IRA is at attracting foreign investments to small-town America. In addition to Japan, companies announcing investments in the Tar Heel and Hoosier states last month are based in the Netherlands, Korea, Canada, India, China and Austria.

Since the IRA was signed into law in August 2022, E2 has tracked 251 projects across 40 states representing more than $106 billion in investments that could help create more than 89,000 jobs. Nearly half of the announcements include companies headquartered overseas, creating opportunity and jobs here in the U.S.

For a complete rundown of all announcements E2 has tracked, please see here.

TOTAL PROJECTS BY STATE

ALABAMA

• Projects: 6
• Investment: $1.603 billion
• Jobs: 1,350

ARKANSAS

• Projects: 2
• Investment: $250 million
• Jobs: 500

ARIZONA

• Projects: 8
• Investment: $5.901 billion
• Jobs: 2,280

CALIFORNIA

• Projects: 12
• Investment: $1.6 billion
• Jobs: 160

COLORADO

• Projects: 7
• Investment: $880 million
• Jobs: 2,382 

CONNECTICUT

• Projects: 4
• Investment: $24.8 million
• Jobs: 100 

FLORIDA

• Projects: 2
• Investment: $72 million
• Jobs: 250

GEORGIA

• Projects: 23
• Investment: $14.577 billion
• Jobs: 14,031

IDAHO

• Projects: 2
• Investment: N/A
• Jobs: N/A 

ILLINOIS

• Projects: 6
• Investment: $2.064 billion
• Jobs: 2,719

INDIANA

• Projects: 10
• Investment: 4,222
• Jobs: $6.416 billion

KANSAS

• Projects: 1
• Investment: N/A
• Jobs: N/A

KENTUCKY

• Projects: 6
• Investment: $646 million
• Jobs: 1,129

LOUISIANA

• Projects: 4
• Investment: $1.214 billion
• Jobs: 983

MASSACHUSETTS

• Projects: 6
• Investment: $45.7 million
• Jobs: 1,041

MARYLAND

• Projects: 1
• Investment: $14 million
• Jobs: 145 

MAINE

• Projects: 1
• Investment: $6 million
• Jobs: 200

MICHIGAN

• Projects: 20
• Investment: $12.163 billion
• Jobs: 10,107 

MINNESOTA

• Projects: 3
• Investment: $145 million
• Jobs: 570

MISSOURI

• Projects: 1
• Investment: $100 million
• Jobs: 250

MISSISSIPPI

• Projects: 2
• Investment: $115 million
• Jobs: 340

NORTH CAROLINA

• Projects: 13
• Investment: $18.62 billion
• Jobs: 7,606 

NEW HAMPSHIRE

• Projects: 1
• Investment: $16.3 million
• Jobs: N/A

NEW MEXICO

• Projects: 5
• Investment: $1.243 billion
• Jobs: 2,542

NEVADA

• Projects: 6
• Investment: $6.6 billion
• Jobs: 5,250

NEW YORK

• Projects: 10
• Investment: $783 million
• Jobs: 2,739

OHIO

• Projects: 13
• Investment: $6.395 billion
• Jobs: 3,839

OKLAHOMA

• Projects: 5
• Investment: $2.45 billion
• Jobs: 1,490

OREGON

• Projects: 1
• Investment: N/A
• Jobs: N/A

PENNSYLVANIA

• Projects: 2
• Investment: $116.1 million
• Jobs: 15 

PUERTO RICO

• Projects: 1
• Investment: N/A
• Jobs: 800

RHODE ISLAND

• Projects: 1
• Investment: N/A
• Jobs: N/A

SOUTH CAROLINA

• Projects: 19
• Investment: $11.071 billion
• Jobs: 11,072

TENNESSEE

• Projects: 13
• Investment: $5.174 billion
• Jobs: 4,110

TEXAS

• Projects: 18
• Investment: $6.769 billion
• Jobs: 6,861

UTAH

• Projects: 1
• Investment: N/A
• Jobs: N/A

VIRGINIA

• Projects: 3
• Investment: $45.5 million
• Jobs: 149

VERMONT

• Projects: 1
• Investment: N/A
• Jobs: 12

WISCONSIN

• Projects: 6
• Investment: $242 million
• Jobs: 262

WEST VIRGINIA

• Projects: 3
• Investment: $1.335 billion
• Jobs: 850

FOCUS: From opposite coasts, projects in green hydrogen, offshore wind jolt U.S. clean economy

From a Silicon Valley startup flush with venture capital to a hulking legacy shipyard in Virginia’s Hampton Roads region, at least 13 major clean energy projects were announced in September from coast to coast. Combined, they include $2.7 billion in private-sector investments that promise to create 6,100 jobs.

Out West, a startup called Verdegy announced it is building a 100,000-square-foot green hydrogen electrolyzer manufacturing plant. Founded only two years ago, Verdegy recently closed a $73 million Series B funding round. Now, it wants to double its workforce to service customers in heavy industries like chemicals, fertilizer, steel and e-fuels.

Verdegy said its advanced manufacturing plant could help dramatically scale up the production of electrolyzers that use renewable electricity to split hydrogen from oxygen molecules in water. With the U.S. Treasury Department finalizing guidance on requirements needed to qualify for the Inflation Reduction Act’s “45V” hydrogen tax credits, Verdegy could be poised for even more growth.

Back East, family-owned Lyon Shipyard announced a new $8.5 million investment to help it better serve commercial ships and vessels involved in Virginia’s fledgling offshore wind industry. The Norfolk, Va.-based company, founded in 1928, said its latest investment is expected to create 134 jobs. Lyon’s current job postings include openings for riggers, marine electricians, dockmasters, painters and machinists – creating new opportunities for workers in old-school occupations thanks to the new industry of clean energy.

At a ribbon-cutting ceremony in front of Lyon’s new 900-ton boat lift, Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin sounded bullish about offshore wind’s potential. “In this emerging industry….we are going to see a thriving hub of activity,” he said.

The Biden administration seems to agree. It set a goal of developing 30 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity by 2030, enough to power more than 10 million homes. While high interest rates and a slowly developing supply chain have stunted industry growth, ports up and down the East Coast are competing to attract domestic offshore wind companies in a sector expected to be worth some $57 billion by the end of the decade.

In addition to green hydrogen and offshore wind, E2 tracked announcements from four other industries: solar, EV, battery and grid/transmission. The month’s largest announcement came from Chinese EV battery company Gotion. At a 150-acre site in Manteno, Ill., Gotion is planning a $2 billion gigfactory expected to create 2,600 jobs, though projects the company has announced in other states have received some pushback. Illinois Gov. JB Prizker called it “the most significant new manufacturing investment in Illinois in decades.”

Since the IRA was signed into law in August 2022, E2 has tracked 234 projects across 40 states representing nearly $91 billion in private-sector investments that could help create more than 80,000 jobs. For a complete rundown of all announcements E2 has tracked, please see here.

SPOTLIGHT: Using AI to help underserved communities address social and environmental issues

NIKHIL BHAMBI

Co-founder / CEO / vice chairperson
Narralytics, Inc
Bakersfield, California

What did you do early in your career?

I abstained from the innate pressures of entering the family business of being a doctor and got into investment banking. But by December 2019, I was burned out and looking to change careers. I intended to pursue a biotech career, but a few months later, COVID upends the world. It was really a period for me to find myself. I started applying to various nonprofits to use skills I gained as an investment banker for good. Eventually, I was volunteering for an environmental health equity think-tank called the Pittsburgh Platform. This was my “Sustainability 101” course.

What motivated you to make climate your career?

One of our team members was talking about the significance of green spaces. I rolled my eyes – how big of a deal can a park be, right? After the call, I looked at a map of urban heating in Richmond, Va. It showed summertime temperature differences between certain regions reached 18 degrees Fahrenheit. Then I realized that map was identical to another one showing Richmond’s formerly redlined neighborhoods. That was a lightbulb moment: Climate change isn’t just an environmental crisis. It’s a social crisis, too.

What did you do next?

I co-founded an early-stage climate tech company called Narralytics. We’re developing an AI-powered software platform that makes it easy, effective and financially compelling for U.S. businesses to use data to measure, report and optimize their social and environmental impacts within underserved communities. We’ve raised $275,000, we’re looking to raise another $500,000, and we’re hoping to commercialize by summer 2024.

What sets your company apart from other data analytics companies?

We record stories in frontline communities. Using enabling technologies like large language models and natural language processing, we take unstructured narratives and turn them into structured data and integrate it with our quantitative insights to ensure our analytics are ultimately contextualized, enriched and validated by the lived experiences of the communities we intend to serve. Our business hypothesis is simple: It’s that who is better to identify and co-develop solutions for systemic inefficiencies than the frontline communities which deal with these issues day-in, day-out.

Where are you piloting your product?

The model is most attuned to cities. Initially, the markets we’re going to be servicing are Watts and Compton, two neighborhoods in southern Los Angeles. But it’s challenging. I’m not a native of those communities, I’m an outsider. Compounding that, I’m representing a data analytics company. A lot of these communities have been poked and prodded by various institutions over the years with little to no change occurring. You have to combat a lot of skepticism.

What do you think about public investments like the IRA and the Justice40 Initiative?

Trillions of dollars will be spent over the next few decades decarbonizing the economy and instituting a just transition. There are probably good ways and less good ways to do that. And robust independent analysis and community engagement can help support better decision-making and allocate capital more efficiently and equitably. We did a line-by-line review of the IRA, and we estimated that in underserved urban communities, there can be as much as $78 billion allocated. That’s huge. It represents a shift in shift in philosophy in how we address the climate crisis.

How so?

The IRA signals something of a shift in U.S. policy away from globalization toward a more nationally focused industrial policy. Since the ’80s, the dominant paradigm has been that free markets and low barriers to international trade are the most effective and efficient way to allocate goods and

services. And it’s a paradigm in which the economy is, in some ways, de-politicized, with markets autonomous and self-correcting. But the last few years three developments have shaken some of this faith in globalization and free markets – COVID, the energy crisis in Europe, and finally the more general push toward supporting domestic industry and reducing outsourcing to countries that may have lower labor costs and labor standards. And I think it’s highly likely that Hamas’s attack on Israel, Iran’s purported backing of that attack, and the growing regional instability will lead to a spike and overall volatility in crude prices, further substantiating a shift toward a more nationally focused industrial policy.

What does this have to do with the IRA?

This means the IRA is poised to spur and accelerate the energy transition. I think the sustainability boom can have the same massive scale of the Industrial Revolution. But due to enabling technologies like artificial intelligence, like the Internet of Things and the prevalence of data, it will happen much more quickly. It will have the speed of the digital age.

TOTAL PROJECTS BY STATE

ALABAMA (6)
Investment: $1.603 billion
Jobs: 1,350
ARKANSAS (2)
Investment: $250 million
Jobs: 500
ARIZONA (8)
Investment: $5.901 billion
Jobs: 2,280
CALIFORNIA (11)
Investment: $1.6 billion
Jobs: 160
COLORADO (7)
Investment: $880 million
Jobs: 2,382
CONNECTICUT (4)
Investment: $24.8 million
Jobs: 100
FLORIDA (2)
Investment: $72 million
Jobs: 250
GEORGIA (21)
Investment: $14.401 billion
Jobs: 13,331
IDAHO (2)
Investment: N/A
Jobs: N/A
ILLINOIS (6)
Investment: $2.064 billion
Jobs: 2,719
INDIANA (7)
Investment: 1,422
Jobs: $2.416 billion
KANSAS (1)
Investment: N/A
Jobs: N/A
KENTUCKY (6)
Investment: $646 million
Jobs: 1,129
LOUISIANA (4)
Investment: $1.214 billion
Jobs: 983
MASSACHUSETTS (6)
Investment: $45.7 million
Jobs: 1,041
MARYLAND (1)
Investment: $14 million
Jobs: 145
MAINE (1)
Investment: $6 million
Jobs: 200
MICHIGAN (19)
Investment: $9.163 billion
Jobs: 10,107
MINNESOTA (3)
Investment: $145 million
Jobs: 570
MISSOURI (1)
Investment: $100 million
Jobs: 250
MISSISSIPPI (2)
Investment: $115 million
Jobs: 340
NORTH CAROLINA (10)
Investment: $9.973 billion
Jobs: 3,706
NEW HAMPSHIRE (1)
Investment: $16.3 million
Jobs: N/A
NEW MEXICO (4)
Investment: $1.194 billion
Jobs: 2,455
NEVADA (6)
Investment: $6.6 billion
Jobs: 5,250
NEW YORK (10)
Investment: $783 million
Jobs: 2,739
OHIO (13)
Investment: $6.395 billion
Jobs: 3,839
OKLAHOMA (5)
Investment: $2.45 billion
Jobs: 1,490
OREGON (1)
Investment: N/A
Jobs: N/A
PENNSYLVANIA (2)
Investment: $116.1 million
Jobs: 157
PUERTO RICO (1)
Investment: N/A
Jobs: 800
RHODE ISLAND (1)
Investment: N/A
Jobs: N/A
SOUTH CAROLINA (19)
Investment: $11.071 billion
Jobs: 11,072
TENNESSEE (13)
Investment: $5.174 billion
Jobs: 4,110
TEXAS (17)
Investment: $6.769 billion
Jobs: 6,661
UTAH (1)
Investment: N/A
Jobs: N/A
VIRGINIA (3)
Investment: $45.5 million
Jobs: 149
VERMONT (1)
Investment: N/A
Jobs: 12
WISCONSIN (6)
Investment: $242 million
Jobs: 262
WEST VIRGINIA (2)
Investment: $1.260 billion
Jobs: 750