Each renewable megawatt that is deployed in Spain leaves fewer jobs in the Iberian country of those that that same power generates, not only in giants like China or the United States, but also in some of the Twenty-seven, such as France or Germany.
The latest report from the International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena), from a few days ago, leaves Spain out of the top five on the international scene in green job creation, both in photovoltaics and wind, being the ninth and eighth country in increasing labor activityrespectively in each of these energy sources.
All voices in the sector agree on the quality and quantity of jobs linked to clean energy with which Spain closed 2022. And for the historical series, the data is good. However, there is a gap in the global picture between the speed at which renewable power grows and the volume of green jobs that Spain adds, in comparison to the more measured progress presented by other countries that compete with the first in the energy transition race.
The renewable frenzy that Spain experienced last year, in the heat of the escalation of fuel prices, catapulted the country to fifth position in the world in photovoltaic deployment, according to UNEF figures, a position that contrasts with the ninth place it occupied in the solar employment ranking that same year.
If we talk about the wind industry, according to the data managed by PREPA, Spain accounted for 8% of the new installed capacity worldwide in 2022. A look at the evolution of new wind capacity between 2018 and 2022 places the Iberian country in fifth position. At the level of jobs, it remained three places below, eighth.