Job Number Headline. Solar jobs dropped in 2018 by nearly 8,000 jobs (~3%) and they did so due to the direct actions by Trump. Those are facts that can’t be misplaced. While that makes for a juicy headline, some consolidation due to efficiency in the market is a positive. I would also argue that some of those jobs are made up in the storage market. Keep in mind that both the 201 tariffs and aluminum/steel tariffs hurt the solar industry directly. So while this is the second year in a row that the employment has shrunk, the market is growing in capacity this year again.
The Report. See the results of the full report here.
The Upside. Most of the job losses came in California and Massachusetts, which aligns with the delay in the SMART program and slowdown in the utility scale procurement due to the 201 tariff process. The upside comes in the other States, some which have had to wait for the ‘free market’ to work itself out and now solar is competitive on cost alone. Florida is now the second largest jobs market for solar in the Country. I’ve been waiting for this to happen ever since 5 of us met at that hotel breakfast in 2007 to work with the Florida PSC to draft the net metering rules. The market growth is also why Quick Mount is the first manufacturer to open a regional warehouse to provide industry leading customer service to the Florida market. Don’t remind me of the irony of having lived in Florida for ten years working in solar only to move to California right when it turns around!
Manufacturing Insight. There has been a lot of pressure on manufacturing in 2018. First it came from the delay while the 201 decision was being made and then it doubled down with the tariff on all imported metals. As a manufacturer, utilization of the factory operations is instrumental to efficient company management. When the market disrupts predictable forecasts, the impacts can be detrimental to employment growth even when the market expands overall.
LA Power Plants. Mayor Garcetti announced yesterday major changes to power plant rebuilding plans at LADWP. This is an environmentally driven decision that will required LADWP to reset its views on power generation, grid reliability and energy procurement. It will also have to move rather quickly and hopefully look towards distributed generation to play a part in the process as well.
Trump/Xi Part Deux. Don’t underestimate the impact of the trade talks with China that are happening at this moment, all eyes are on the potential deal to be made at Mar-a-Lago next week.
- Inc: Tariffs Are Killing the Once-Flourishing Solar Industry, According to a New Report
- PV-Tech: Manufacturing not immune from US solar jobs decline
- Los Angeles Times: How will L.A. replace three gas plants that Mayor Eric Garcetti plans to shut down?
- Fortune: The Trump-Xi Trade Truce Ends March 1. What Then?
- Utility Dive: Congressional Democrats push FERC to act on aggregated DERs
- NPR: Governor, Senator Stewart announce Solar Tax Credit legislation
- Greentech Media: DC-Coupled Solar-Plus-Storage Systems Are Gaining Ground
Opinion
Have a great day!
Yann