What types of jobs are created by the geothermal sector, and how long will they last?

How many people currently work in the U.S. geothermal industry?

How many jobs will be supported by the geothermal industry in the future?

Do you have more questions about employment?

What types of jobs are created by the geothermal sector, and how long will they last?
According to a recent employment study, an overwhelming majority of geothermal jobs (86%) are full time, permanent positions. Geothermal provides quality wages to people living in depressed economic communities, and provide stable sources of employment.

Geothermal provides long-term income for people with a diversity of job skills. People directly employed by the sector include welders; mechanics; pipe fitters; plumbers; machinists; electricians; carpenters; construction and drilling equipment operators and excavators; surveyors; architects and designers; geologists; hydrologists; electrical, mechanical, and structural engineers; HVAC technicians; food processing specialists; aquaculture and horticulture specialists; resort managers; spa developers;(1) researchers; and government employees.

How many people currently work in the U.S. geothermal industry?
In answering this question, most organizations focus upon the total number of direct and indirect jobs created by their industry. For geothermal, direct jobs relate to the construction and maintenance of geothermal power plants, while indirect jobs provide goods and services to the industries directly involved in power plant construction or operation and maintenance. The number of indirect jobs within a particular sector is largely theoretical, and changes according to the preferred method of analysis. So while indirect impacts should certainly be considered – any investment in a particular sector of the economy will impact other sectors – it is also important to distinguish between these two types of employment impacts.

According to a recent employment survey conducted by Geothermal Energy Association (GEA), the total number of jobs supported by the existing geothermal industry in 2004 was 11,460. This includes direct, indirect and induced employment. Power plant or direct employment was estimated to be 4,583 full time positions. This corresponds to 1.7 permanent jobs per megawatt of capacity installed. As the report noted, “Employment in the industry is probably at a historic low since power plant construction has been minimal between 1993 and 2004 as state and federal policies underwent significant changes. Also, because federal research support is at a historically low level, associated research employment is low.”

How many jobs will be supported by the geothermal industry in the future?
Many new projects are under development and will likely come online within the next few years. If we consider the optimistic but realistic projected growth of the geothermal industry over the next 20 years provided by the Energy Information Administration (EIA), it will result in the creation of an estimated 34,114 (p*y) jobs corresponding to a power capacity increase of 2455 MW. Manufacturing and construction jobs typically correspond to 6.4 p*y jobs per MW of capacity. In addition to these jobs, each MW of incremental capacity generates 0.74 permanent full-time jobs directly related to power plant operation and maintenance.  

If 1000 new megawatts of geothermal energy come online within the next 3 to 5 years as projected, these new facilities will support 6400 p*y manufacturing and construction jobs and 740 power plant O&M jobs. Considering that a geothermal power plant has a 30 years lifetime, 1000MW of new geothermal power capacity will create 28,600 p*y jobs. If the additional jobs brought on by research, direct use applications, and other geothermal activities are considered, the number of direct jobs would be even greater – these figures consider employment created by electricity production alone.

Do you have more questions about employment?
Please see Geothermal Industry Employment for answers.

(1) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) for U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Geothermal Development Job Types and Impacts. Accessed August 15, 2005, from http://www.eere.energy.gov/geothermal/job_types.html.