What
types of jobs are created by the geothermal sector,
and how long will they last?
How many people currently
work in the U.S. geothermal industry?
How many jobs will be supported
by the geothermal industry in the future?
Do you have more questions
about employment?
What types of jobs are created
by the geothermal sector, and how long will they last?
According to a recent employment study, an overwhelming
majority of geothermal jobs (86%) are full time, permanent
positions. Geothermal provides quality wages to people
living in depressed economic communities, and provide
stable sources of employment.
Geothermal provides long-term income for people with
a diversity of job skills. People directly employed
by the sector include welders; mechanics; pipe fitters;
plumbers; machinists; electricians; carpenters; construction
and drilling equipment operators and excavators; surveyors;
architects and designers; geologists; hydrologists;
electrical, mechanical, and structural engineers; HVAC
technicians; food processing specialists; aquaculture
and horticulture specialists; resort managers; spa developers;(1)
researchers; and government employees.
How many people currently
work in the U.S. geothermal industry?
In answering this question, most organizations focus
upon the total number of direct and indirect jobs created
by their industry. For geothermal, direct jobs relate
to the construction and maintenance of geothermal power
plants, while indirect jobs provide goods and services
to the industries directly involved in power plant construction
or operation and maintenance. The number of indirect
jobs within a particular sector is largely theoretical,
and changes according to the preferred method of analysis.
So while indirect impacts should certainly be considered
– any investment in a particular sector of the
economy will impact other sectors – it is also
important to distinguish between these two types of
employment impacts.
According to a recent employment survey conducted by
Geothermal Energy Association (GEA), the total number
of jobs supported by the existing geothermal industry
in 2004 was 11,460. This includes direct, indirect and
induced employment. Power plant or direct employment
was estimated to be 4,583 full time positions. This
corresponds to 1.7 permanent jobs per megawatt of capacity
installed. As the report noted, “Employment in
the industry is probably at a historic low since power
plant construction has been minimal between 1993 and
2004 as state and federal policies underwent significant
changes. Also, because federal research support is at
a historically low level, associated research employment
is low.”
How many jobs will be supported
by the geothermal industry in the future?
Many new projects are under development and will likely
come online within the next few years. If we consider
the optimistic but realistic projected growth of the
geothermal industry over the next 20 years provided
by the Energy Information Administration (EIA), it will
result in the creation of an estimated 34,114 (p*y)
jobs corresponding to a power capacity increase of 2455
MW. Manufacturing and construction jobs typically correspond
to 6.4 p*y jobs per MW of capacity. In addition to these
jobs, each MW of incremental capacity generates 0.74
permanent full-time jobs directly related to power plant
operation and maintenance.
If 1000 new megawatts of geothermal energy come online
within the next 3 to 5 years as projected, these new
facilities will support 6400 p*y manufacturing and construction
jobs and 740 power plant O&M jobs. Considering that
a geothermal power plant has a 30 years lifetime, 1000MW
of new geothermal power capacity will create 28,600
p*y jobs. If the additional jobs brought on by research,
direct use applications, and other geothermal activities
are considered, the number of direct jobs would be even
greater – these figures consider employment created
by electricity production alone.
Do you have more questions
about employment?
Please see Geothermal
Industry Employment for answers.
..............................................................................................................................................................
(1) National Renewable
Energy Laboratory (NREL) for U.S. Department of Energy
(DOE). Geothermal Development Job Types and Impacts.
Accessed August 15, 2005, from http://www.eere.energy.gov/geothermal/job_types.html.
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