Job recovery in the US clean energy sector slowed to a trickle in July amid a resurgence of the Covid-19 pandemic with renewables adding only 591 positions nationwide versus almost 17,300 the previous month, according to the latest analysis of federal unemployment data by BW Research.
It found the industry overall added just 3,200 jobs last month compared with more than 106,000 in June, leaving more than 511,000 workers unemployed since the outbreak pushed the $21 trillion US economy into recession in March.
“At the current pace, and without federal support, it would take nearly 15 years for the US clean energy sector to reach pre-Covid-19 employment levels,” advocacy groups American Council on Renewable Energy (Acore), E2 and E4TheFuture, which commissioned the report, said in a joint statement.
Nationally, more than 15% of the 3.4 million Americans employed in clean energy have filed for jobless benefits since the pandemic’s onset.
The report lists clean energy occupations by sub-sector: clean fuels, clean vehicles, energy efficiency, grid and storage, and renewables.
As of 1 August, energy efficiency had the most jobless (357,871), then renewables (81,840), clean vehicles (37,917), grid and storage (22,656) and clean fuels (10,791).
The report did not provide more detail for each category but for renewables, solar alone had shed more than 72,000 jobs through June, according to Solar Energy Industries Association, a national trade group based in Washington, DC.
“The renewable sector’s modest job gains in June have stalled out and are at risk of reversing again,” said Acore CEO Greg Wetstone. He called for a delay in the scheduled phasedown of existing federal renewable investment and production tax credits and their refundability in cash on a temporary basis.
For wind developers, a direct refund in cash would monetise tax credits quickly, helping some projects overcome the present shortfall in tax equity availability.
The US wind and solar sectors depend heavily on tax equity investment to help finance project developments, and 2020 deal volume before Covid-19 was forecast at a record $15bn - 65% wind - versus around $12.5bn in 2019.
Tax equity transactions involve one party (the project developer) agreeing to assign the rights to claim the federal production tax credit (PTC) or investment tax credit (ITC) to another party in exchange for an equity investment (cash financing).
The advocacy groups are also calling for a “reasonable but robust investment” in clean energy through existing, funding approved federal programs. Doing this, they claimed in a separate report, Build Back, Better, Faster, could generate 800,000 jobs and $330bn in economic activity.
“Study after study – as well as history – shows investing in clean energy is the best and fastest way to build back our economy. Why doesn’t Congress get it – and do something?” said Bob Keefe, executive director of E2.
The coronavirus has killed more than 169,000 Americans, the most in any country. US economic economic output fell 9.5% in the second quarter, the biggest decline since the Great Depression.
