Smart grid technology could create 280,000 jobs, report
6th January 2009
The GridWise Alliance estimates that up to 280,000 new jobs can be created through the deployment of smart grid technologies.
According to the Smart Grid Jobs Report, written by GridWise member company, KEMA, the smart grid will drive a substantial number of indirect jobs as it enables the deployment of new technologies such as plug-in hybrid vehicles, distributed renewable energy resources and wind energy generation.
‘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.
The report predicts that a $16bn federal investment in smart incentives over the next four years would drive $64bn in smart grid related projects resulting in approximately 280,000 new direct positions across various categories.
‘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, vice president of Energy Systems Consulting, KEMA.
‘We know first-hand that a smart grid allows our electric infrastructure to be more reliable, resilient, and secure. There is also a growing consensus that a smart grid is one of the critical and necessary enablers for optimising renewable resources, maximising energy efficiency, and unleashing the potential of distributed energy storage technologies,’ said Katherine Hamilton, president of the GridWise Alliance.
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