Growth of Solar Jobs in India: A Reality Check - Examining the nuances of growth of solar power jobs in India and comparing their nature to coal jobs

Abstract: India is the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world, despite having low per capita emissions. A large quantity of these emissions stem from its fossil-fuel reliant energy sector. Renewable energy sources (RES) like solar and wind power show promise in helping the country transition to cleaner forms of energy generation. India currently has ambitious plans of installing 175 GW of energy generation capacity from RES by 2022, 100 GW of which will be from the solar power sector. Apart from having lower life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions, RES also create numerous employment opportunities for local communities. A large number of these directly created jobs are in the construction and operations and management phases of the projects. Existing literature estimates the overall number of jobs the solar power sector will create on a national level in the future. However, the distribution of these jobs varies greatly at the state and regional levels due to differing geographical and socio-political factors. This thesis attempts to fill this knowledge gap by comparing estimated solar power potential of each of the Indian states, with their job creation potential based on current government plans and policies. Further, media reports can often insinuate that these newly created “green” jobs can act as an offset to any traditional fossil fuel jobs that are lost. However, they lack a comprehensive comparison of the nature of the employment generated by the two sectors. This study compares the two kinds of jobs, based on quantity, skill type and geographical location. Lastly, this study also explores how the number and nature of the jobs in these two energy production sectors can be expected to change in the next few decades.