Employment

The national goals set by European countries two years ago already look hopelessly out of date thanks to the global PV boom. The Euro trade association for the industry has called for ambitions to be radically scaled up in 2023 if the world is to have any chance of capping temperature rises at 1.5C.

The partners behind a JV aiming to develop a lithium conversion factory in Portugal say Iberia could supply enough geological feedstock spodumene to produce 700,000 EV batteries per year, starting in 2026.

The Euro trade body has promised to monitor the developing solar jobs market annually from now on, and pointed to Poland’s position at the top of the tree of EU member states for PV jobs last year as evidence the technology can still benefit from legislative backing.

The latest edition of a clean power jobs survey produced by IRENA and the International Labour Organization has stressed the important role which will need to be played by the public sector if the energy transition’s employment benefits are to be shared equally.

A new report by IRENA and the International Labour Organization highlights the employment potential of an ambitious climate strategy and calls for comprehensive policies in support of a just energy transition.

With a rising chorus of voices calling for more solar industry recruits to perform the energy transition, Nigeria already has a skilled base of PV engineers and, with a little help filling the few gaps they have in their knowledge, the nation can step into the breach immediately, as Testimony Gabe-Oji, chief technology officer for Abuja-based installer Green Energy Spectrum, explains.

pv magazine has spoken to Bill Lenihan, CEO of Netherlands-based energy system installer start-up Zola Electric – formerly Off Grid Electric – to find out how the business intends to spend the $90 million debt and equity investment it recently raised.

A report by the IEA laying out two routes for China to reach net zero attempts to persuade policymakers to gun for that goal by 2050, rather than ten years later, and dangles the prospect of continued global dominance as the main reward on offer.

The clean energy joint venture, which is half owned by British energy company BP, today said it expects to create around 500 jobs as it ramps up its solar portfolio from less than 4 GW to 25 GW in four years.

The switch from fossil fuels and nuclear will bring a jobs dividend thanks to the greater labor-intensity of renewables plants, according to a paper published by Finland’s LUT. However, the jobs dividend is unlikely to be evenly spread around the world, with Europe set to be a big winner.