Energy Storage Is The Job Creation Opportunity Of The Future — Now!
So often we hear naysayers bemoaning the effects of relinquishing a fossil fuel-based energy economy. “If we stopped producing oil and gas tomorrow, we’d have an economic crisis. We’d have a famine. We’d have a world war.” So it’s refreshing to see carbon-free sources described as “the mother of all markets” and “a rare opportunity to create millions of living-wage jobs.” That’s the tone of the December, 2018 report, “The New York Jobs Project: A Guide to Creating Jobs in Energy Storage.”
Arguing that “advanced energy represents a tremendous wealth opportunity to alleviate the disparate growth” and is a primary job creation mechanism in the US, the report provides strategies for New York to capture the economic and job benefits of the state’s ambitious energy storage deployment goals.
And that New York model can be emulated by other US states, too.
Using the state of New York as an example, The American Jobs Project, in partnership with the New York Battery and Energy Storage Technology Consortium (NY-BEST), has identified a strategy to ensure states capture their share of this quickly growing energy storage industry. In doing so, low- and middle-skilled workers would have opportunities with pay above the national median.workers and communities, which could uplift entire communities.
In New York, energy storage industry is a significant economic opportunity for job growth and has the potential to support a total of 27,400 manufacturing and installation jobs by 2030. New York, the report’s authors say, can capitalize on this opportunity by bolstering the innovation ecosystem, access to capital, workforce development, and value chain.
The New York Jobs Project’s central theme is that forward-thinking leaders can reverse trends over the last several decades in which dedicated US workers saw wages stagnated, opportunities for good-paying jobs diminish, and economic inequality rise. Instead of waiting for the current federal government to lose its “paralysis,” the authors suggest, it’s time to turn to the state, which can promote equitable growth by capitalizing on the opportunities within the advanced energy sector — and what better place is there to start than with energy storage?
Based on stakeholder interviews and extensive research, The New York Jobs Project finds:
The energy storage industry could support more than 27,400 manufacturing and installation jobs for New Yorkers by 2030, backing the state’s 30,000 jobs target.
The Empire State is home to nearly 100 energy storage companies with expertise in hardware manufacturing, advanced materials, software development, and project management.
New York excels at fundamental energy storage research and ranks fifth in the nation for energy storage patents due to the depth of research across its universities, national lab, and businesses.
Clean energy innovation is supported by statewide business/technology development resources from NYSERDA, Empire State Development, and NY-BEST.
New York’s clean energy leadership, marked by ambitious statewide goals and collaborative stakeholder efforts, present a clear mandate to catalyze energy storage deployment.
