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REPORT
India's Expanding Clean Energy Workforce 2022 Update
06 February, 2023 | Energy Transitions, Sustainable Livelihoods
Akanksha Tyagi, Akanksha Golchha, Deepak Rai, Arvind Poswal, Charu Lata, Sameer Kwatra, and Praveen Saxena

Suggested Citation: Tyagi, Akanksha, Akanksha Golchha, Deepak Rai, Arvind Poswal, Charu Lata, Sameer Kwatra, and Praveen Saxena. 2023. India's Expanding Clean Energy Workforce 2022 Update. Council on Energy, Environment and Water, Natural Resources Defense Council, and Skill Council for Green Jobs.

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Overview

This report provides an updated analysis on direct jobs created from solar and wind energy sectors in India in the financial year 2022 (FY22), building on earlier analyses by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), and Skill Council for Green Jobs (SCGJ). It also introduces the employment and skilling insights of standalone battery energy storage system (BESS) deployment. Lastly, it provides information about updated training and skilling numbers from SCGJ across the renewable energy and green jobs’ sectors.

Key Highlights

  • In FY22, the solar and wind energy sectors added 52,700 new workforces in project development roles. This is eight times more than the additions in FY21.
  • 99 per cent of the new workforce (52,100) were employed in the solar energy sector, with the wind energy sector showing very small growth (600 new workers).
  • India’s solar and wind energy sectors employ about 164,000 workers as of FY22, showing a 47 per cent increase from FY21. 84 per cent of this workforce is in the solar energy sector.
  • 100,000 people were trained by SCGJ in the renewable energy sector as of FY22, with 500,000 cumulative trainees across the green business domain.​

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Akanksha Tyagi
Programme Associate
[email protected]
“Indian states should focus on green skill development to create a skilled workforce that can tap employment opportunities from the clean energy transition.”

Executive Summary

India updated its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) in 2022 to advance accomplishing its decarbonization goals by 2070. Within the updated NDC’s, meeting 50 percent of cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil sources by 2030 is a leading step towards renewable energy deployment and subsequent emissions reduction. The renewable energy sector was visibly resilient after COVID-19 pandemic and has reached a cumulative installed capacity of 120 GW at the end of the year 2022. Since resumption of activities post COVID-19 restrictions, there has been significant momentum in the growth and pace of renewable energy deployment, and the expansion of specialized skilling initiatives to support capacity addition with gainful employment. It is essential to estimate skill gaps resulting from the advent of new and emerging clean energy technologies being deployed. In order to meet the progressive renewable energy capacity deployment by 2030, skilling initiatives needs to be aligned as per requisite demand.

This report provides an updated analysis on direct jobs created from solar and wind energy sectors in financial year 2022 (FY22), building on earlier analyses by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), and Skill Council for Green Jobs (SCGJ). It also introduces the employment and skilling insights of standalone battery energy storage system (BESS) deployment. Lastly, it provides information about updated trainings and skilling numbers from SCGJ across the renewable energy and green jobs’ sectors.  

Employment trends in the solar and wind energy sectors FY 2022

jobs in renewable energy sector in india

Source: CEEW-NRDC Analysis, 2022

Key Findings
  • In FY22, the solar and wind energy sectors added 52,700 new workforce in project development roles, eight times the additions in FY21.
  • 99% of the new workforce (52,100) were employed in the solar energy sector, with wind energy sector showing only very small growth (600 new workers).
  • India’s solar and wind energy sectors employ 164,000 workers as of FY22, showing a 47 percent increase from FY21. 84 percent of this workforce is in the solar energy sector.
  • 100,000 people were trained by SCGJ in renewable energy sector as of FY22, with 500,000 cumulative trainees across green business domain. The annual trainings have declined from 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic induced restrictions.
  • 61 workers were required for deploying a10 MW/10 MWh Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS). Majority of these were highly skilled worker with background in electrical, civil and mechanical engineering.
  • Emergence of new sectors like solar module and battery cell manufacturing, hybrid configurations of projects, recycling requires workers with advanced analytical and business skills along with new technical skills like solid state manufacturing, equipment engineering and robotics.
Recommendations
  • Mainstream industry relevant renewable energy courses at universities for developing highly skilled workforces: Universities and premier institutes should include industry relevant courses at higher education levels and leverage industrial linkages to implement initiatives such as National Credit Framework for mainstream skilling and vocational education. Along with other institutional measures, these programs can be jointly implemented with industry associations to foresee emerging skill requirements and create scalable training programs.
  • Expand existing institutional capacity at state levels for sector-centric skilling programs. State skill development agencies should track demand for green jobs, bridge skill gaps and provide continuous reskilling opportunities to improve employability. They should also address regional skill requirements with stakeholders such as SCGJ and local industry to develop training and their related monitoring.
  • Create gender focused skilling courses to improve women participation in the clean energy workforce: The entire skilling ecosystem should deploy gender-specific strategies for improving women representation in green jobs. Instruments such as women trainers, online trainings, career guidance can be helpful.
  • Support existing workforce in conventional energy sectors move towards appropriate career trajectories with initiatives for upskill, reskill and possibly re-certify competence. Promote inclusion of skilling programs with current schemes to ensure manufacturing, investments, and exports in the value chains.

HAVE A QUERY?

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Akanksha Tyagi
Programme Associate
[email protected]
Key Findings
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