REPP's New Report on Job Creation with Renewable Energy Projects

Tuesday, December 4, 2001
By George J. Sterzinger

From REPP’s Executive Director


REPP is pleased to offer this Report on the job creation associated with the development of renewable energy projects. Click here to view the full report. We feel it is very timely. On the national scene, we are wrestling with policies to address an energy crisis and a non-policy on climate change. Many states are looking closely at Renewable Portfolio Standards or other legislative changes to accelerate renewable development and capture environmental benefits. It is our experience that policy debates on these topics are almost always about more than energy and environment. The debates also reach to the economic impact of the policies, particularly the job impact.


In this Report REPP has deliberately by-passed the more traditional econometric and input-output models that rely on national data to project job creation associated with investments in electric generation options. The job estimates in this study are based in large part on surveys taken of companies currently operating in the United States. As a result, the job estimates are not economic projections; they are a reflection of current industry practices. However, the findings of the survey are presented so that a projection of jobs per MW of new renewables, renewables related to a state or federal initiative, can easily be modeled. REPP hopes to make this information available to policmakers where the results of this survey can help them determine the impacts of policies they may be contemplating.


To see how the results of the Report can be used, consider the state of Nevada which recently passed a RPS that will require that 15% of the electricity used in the state come from renewable projects, provided the cost and benefits of meeting the standard are determined to be "just and reasonable". This Report provides new information on the jobs potentially created if the Nevada standard is adopted. Whether the jobs should be considered as a part of the benefits and affect the just and reasonable costs of the RPS are decisions that must be made by the state regulatory Commission. REPP of course has an opinion about that and we should add that we have entered into a cooperative agreement with the Nevada AFL-CIO to help them capture the job and other benefits related to the RPS. But at this point we want to offer the Report to legislators, regulators, and others involved in the on-going development of energy policy. We hope it is useful.


George J. Sterzinger

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