Report: Growing clean energy sector responsible for more than 43,000 jobs in NC

RALEIGH – Clean energy continues to be a growth sector within the North Carolina economy, accounting for more than 43,000 jobs in 2018, according to a forthcoming report.

The North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association says its report on clean energy across the state last year will be published on Thursday.

However, in a preview released Monday afternoon, the group noted just how much the clean energy economy has grown since it first conducted a census of the sector a decade earlier.

Jobs have climbed to more than 43,000 since 2008
In earlier reports, the association noted that jobs in 2016 grew to 34,294 from 26,154 the previous year
The number of firms linked to the sector has nearly quadrupled to 1,717 from 468
The sector is responsible for some $14 billion, four times the $3.5 billion in the 2009 census
Annual revenues have climbed 124 percent since 2016

A big driver in North Carolina’s clean energy is solar. According to the Solar Energy Industries Association the state ranks second to California in solar power.

However, most jobs – nearly 24,000 or 55 percent – are in the energy efficiency sector, the report says.

Solar produces the second most jobs at nearly 6,500 followed by alternative fuel vehicles at more than 2,500.

Small businesses with five or fewer employees make up more than 52 percent of the companies in the clean energy sector.

“The 2018 Clean Energy Industry Census demonstrates the continued strength of our state’s Clean Energy Industry and the incredible transformation our state has experienced since we first measured the industry’s contribution to our economy in 2008,” said said Ivan Urlaub, Executive Director of NCSEA, in a statement.

“A new era of deeper cost and energy savings, lower emissions, and greater economic opportunity through clean energy has begun.”