Renewable Energy Solar Energy Wind Energy Geothermal Energy Bioenergy Hydropower

280,000 New U.S. Jobs Tied Directly to Smart Grid Deployment

January 23, 2009 | 3 Comments

Do you like this research & reports?

Bookmark

Feed

Washington, D.C., United States [RenewableEnergyWorld.com] As some of the highest first time unemployment claims in U.S. history were released this week, the Smart Grid Jobs Report, released by the GridWise Alliance could offer at least some light at the end of the tunnel. The report says that an estimated 280,000 new jobs can be created directly from the deployment of smart grid technologies. The report explains that Federal investment in a smart grid could act as a catalyst for these planned and immediate direct jobs as well as spawn many indirect jobs.

"Over 150,000 of these jobs would be created by the end of 2009 and nearly 140,000 newly created high value positions would become permanent after a smart grid deployment."

-- Ralph Masiello, Senior VP - Energy Systems Consulting, Kema

In addition to the 280,000 direct jobs, the report notes that a smart grid will drive a substantial number of indirect jobs as it enables the deployment of new technologies such as plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, distributed renewable energy resources such as solar, smart appliances, home automation software and hardware and wind energy generation. The report does not quantify the number of these indirect jobs.

“Increasingly a smart grid is seen as a key enabler for the new energy economy and as such, is foundational for the millions of “green collar jobs” President-Elect Obama is aiming for,” said Guido Bartels, chairman of the GridWise Alliance and general manager of Global Energy & Utilities Industry at IBM.

The report projects that a US $16 billion Federal investment in smart incentives over the next four years would drive US $64 billion in smart grid related projects resulting in approximately 280,000 new direct positions across various categories. The Smart Grid Jobs Report was written by GridWise member company, Kema Inc.

“Over 150,000 of these jobs would be created by the end of 2009 and nearly 140,000 newly created high value positions would become permanent after a smart grid deployment,” said Ralph Masiello, senior vice president of Energy Systems Consulting for Kema.

To view the full report visit, click here.

Geothermal Energy, Green Power, Solar Energy, Wind Power

3 Reader Comments

Comment
1 of 3

dennis-houghton-41194

January 23, 2009

An excellent report, it even accounts for the thousands of jobs which will be lost to a national Smart Grid effort. Implementation of a national Smart Grid with Demand Control would be the end of utility resistance to small scale distributed generation connections, especially residential solar PV. In addition, consumer access to real-time usage information is a powerful conservation tool. Giving that same information to the utility may seem overly intrusive to some. One million of the nation's 170 million electric meters are already using AMI Advanced Metering Infrastructure.

Comment
2 of 3

dennis-houghton-41194

January 24, 2009

RE advocates should note that this is an information technology, not new transmission lines and substations. It also may be hard to visualize how giving the utility more control over consumption and distribution and TOD rates is a good thing for consumers and RE producers. The implications of this technology need to be better understood by the general public.

The following definition of Smart Grid is excerpted from the report.

The term "Smart Grid" in this document refers to the networked application of digital technology to the energy
delivery and consumption segments of the utility industry. More specifically, it incorporates advanced applications and
use of distributed energy resources, communications, information management, advanced metering infrastructure
(AMI), and automated control technologies to modernize, optimize, and transform electric power and gas
infrastructure. The Smart Grid vision seeks to bring together these technologies to make the grid self-healing, more
reliable, safer, and more efficient, as well as empower customers to use electricity more efficiently. It also seeks to
contribute to a sustainable future with improvements to national security, economic growth, and climate change.

Comment
3 of 3

casey-conlon-54988

January 28, 2009

These concepts are some of the same ones Friedman wrote about in Hot, Flat, and Crowded.

Good to see the tide turning.

REEFIGDCPEERPC < (less than) TTCOBCOG

Renewable Energy Eco-system for Innovating, Generating, and Deploying Clean Power, Energy Efficiency, Resource Productivity, and Conservation

has to be less than

The True Cost of Burning Coal, Oil, and Gas

That is how we make Clean Energy cheaper and more desirable than our carbon based energy.

Add Your Comment

Registered users, please make sure to Sign-In. We and others want to know your ideas and opinions. If you are not yet Registered -- it's quick and easy. Just click below.
Thanks!