More than 18,000 clean energy and clean transportation jobs were announced in 23 states during the third quarter of 2014. This represents an uptick relative to Q2. This quarter’s numbers are also higher than the corresponding quarter a year ago.
Despite the strong quarter, future clean energy job growth is anything but assured, especially given the uncertainty surrounding the political changes that came with the Nov. 4 election. It will be up to the new Republican-led Congress to decide whether to continue the job-creating clean energy policies that have been crucial to driving clean energy development and employment in every state in the country.
Both Republican and Democratic congressional districts benefited almost equally from clean energy job announcements — indicating that clean energy knows no political boundaries, according to E2’s analysis. At least 9,095 jobs were announced in Republican congressional districts, compared with 7,690 jobs announced in Democratic districts. About 1,250 job announcements spanned both Republican and Democratic districts.
Another reason this quarter’s results are not as rosy as they may initially appear is that utilities seeking maximum return on investment rushed to install solar projects ahead of the scheduled expiration of the Investment Tax Credit (ITC) for solar power. The current ITC stipulates that projects must be completed by the end of 2016 in order to qualify for the 30-percent tax credit. Should the lame-duck or new 114th Congress fail to extend or reinstate tax credits for solar, wind, and energy efficiency, it would remove some of the market certainty clean energy businesses need to hire more workers. This would continue to tilt the playing field in the favor of a fossil fuel industry heavily supported by subsidies, potentially slowing momentum of clean energy job announcements in multiple sectors in upcoming quarters. The e wind industry offers a grim example of what happens to growing industries when Congress prematurely removes or fails to renew incentives. After the wind energy Production Tax Credit (PTC) expired in 2012, industry group American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) reported 32,000 industry jobs were lost the following year.1 Since the PTC expired at the end of last year, wind announcements once again are declining drastically: by Q3 2014, E2 has tracked just over 5,000 jobs — less than half as many as this time in 2012