US companies have announced more than 100,000 jobs in clean energy manufacturing since the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), according to figures from non-profit group E2.
Since the act’s signing in August 2023, US companies have announced 69 new projects in the solar sector, adding 25,157 jobs to the US economy, second behind only electric vehicles (EVs).
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The solar sector has also attracted the third-most investment among the sectors studied, receiving US$13.8 billion, behind EVs and energy storage, respectively.
The manufacturing sector has been a particular beneficiary of the IRA, with E2 reporting that 47 new projects in the solar manufacturing space have been launched since the act’s passage, which account for 18.5% of all new manufacturing jobs, behind only the clean vehicles sector, which accounts for more than half.
E2’s monthly figures also demonstrate that four new clean energy manufacturing plants were announced in April, of which two pertain to the solar sector. One is US tracker manufacturer OMCO Solar’s plans to open a new manufacturing facility in Alabama, which will add 70 jobs, and the other is Vietnamese firm Boviet Solar’s decision to open a 2GW cell and module assembly plant in North Carolina.
These recent developments are good news for the growing US solar manufacturing sector, and follow growing calls from the industry to expand the sector. Last month, the Solar Energy Manufacturers for America (SEMA) Coalition called on the US government to “act immediately” to encourage more investment in domestic solar manufacturing.
Investments in new solar manufacturing are only one part of the IRA, and E2 notes that, with the announcement of the latest round of projects, US companies have planned to build 305 clean energy manufacturing projects, which E2 estimates will constitute than US$123 billion in new investment.