Summary
North Carolina’s clean energy workforce added 4,408 new workers in 2023, growing 4.2 percent and adding jobs at a much faster rate than the state’s overall employment, which grew 2.5 percent. North Carolina had the 9th-largest clean energy workforce for 2023 among all 50 states, with 109,788 clean energy jobs in total. The bulk of the workforce were in construction and professional services industries. In 2023, clean energy accounted for over 11 times more jobs than fossil fuels in North Carolina. Two North Carolina counties made the top 30 list for most clean energy jobs by county in the nation: Mecklenburg County (19,586 jobs) and Wake County (17,122 jobs).
- ENERGY EFFICIENCY: Energy efficiency is North Carolina’s largest clean energy sector by jobs, with 80,817 workers. The sector grew 3.2 percent in 2023, tied for the 26th fastest-growing energy efficiency workforce in the nation.
- RENEWABLE GENERATION: Renewable generation grew 7.7 percent in 2023, bringing North Carolina’s renewable generation workforce to 13,579 individuals—the 8th largest in the country. Solar accounts for the majority of the sector’s workforce, with 9,819 jobs.
- STORAGE AND GRID MODERNIZATION: Jobs in battery, storage, and grid modernization grew 10.1 percent in 2023, making it the fastest-growing clean energy sector in the state. North Carolina’s storage and grid modernization workforce totaled 4,246 in 2023—the 10th largest in the nation.
- CLEAN VEHICLES: The clean vehicles sector was the third-fastest growing workforce in North Carolina’s clean energy industry, growing 5.9 percent in 2023 to employ a total of 9,522 workers. The sector grew nearly 6 times faster than the gas/diesel vehicles sector in North Carolina, which grew only 1 percent in 2023.
- CLEAN FUELS: North Carolina’s clean fuels workforce makes up the smallest clean energy sector in the state, with 1,559 total jobs. Clean fuels jobs grew at a rate of 2.6 percent in North Carolina in 2023.
Previous Reports
Clean Jobs North Carolina 2024 is the 6th clean energy jobs report for North Carolina from E2. Previous reports can be accessed in the below links.
Background
This is the sixth annual Clean Jobs North Carolina report produced by E2 based on analysis of the 2024 U.S. Energy and Employment Report (USEER), which was first released by the Department of Energy (DOE) in 2016. E2 was an original proponent of the DOE producing the USEER and was a partner on the reports produced by the Energy Futures Initiative (EFI) and National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO). For methodology questions, see pages 201-206 of the 2023 USEER.
For additional insight into E2’s Clean Jobs North Carolina or our other annual clean energy economic reports, visit e2.org/reports.