Colorado is riding high on a wave of growing investment in clean energy jobs, adding thousands of jobs in related industries and moving the state along the path of increased use of renewable energy and cutting greenhouse gas emissions, two new reports say.
Colorado ranks in the top 10 states for the deployment of wind and solar energy and is home to 12 clean energy manufacturing facilities with more anticipated, according to a report by the trade organization American Clean Power Association.
A new analysis by the business group E2, or Environmental Entrepreneurs, said nearly 64,000 people were employed in clean energy industries in Colorado in 2022. Those included jobs in solar and wind energy; electric, hybrid and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles; energy efficiency; and advanced building materials. In 2022, the state added about 2,800 jobs to the clean energy workforce, an increase of 4.6%.
Federal legislation authorizing billions of dollars of spending on renewable energy projects, electric vehicles and other technologies is accelerating the transition to clean energy, creating more certainty for the industries and spurring more private investment, said the advocates and industry representatives.
However, both organizations said progress must continue on policies and workforce training to keep the momentum going.
“Congress passed a couple of really significant pieces of legislation to promote modernizing American infrastructure and the goal was to inspire private sector investments in clean energy. It is, by some measures, working better than expected,” said Jason Grumet, CEO of the American Clean Power Association.
“In the last 12 months, there’s been nearly $300 billion dollars announced in new clean energy investments, which is more than the combined investment of the prior eight years,” Grumet added.
In Colorado, about $14 billion has been invested in the wind, solar and storage sectors to date, according to the association’s report. By 2030, the organization said the figure is expected to shoot up by another $12 billion as more utility-scale solar, wind and storage capacity are added.
While called the Inflation Reduction Act, the bill, signed in 2022, is known more for making the country’s largest-ever investment in addressing climate change by helping cut greenhouse gas emissions and promoting clean-energy technologies. Renewable energy tax credits were extended.
The federal infrastructure bill, passed in 2021, included money for improvements to electric transmission to handle more renewable energy on the grid and building out a national network of charging stations for electric vehicles.
“Some of the best news is that there are over 80 major domestic manufacturing facilities to provide the components for the clean energy transition,” Grumet said. “Those are good domestic manufacturing jobs that we think have the capacity to help rebuild communities.”
The 12 Colorado manufacturing facilities cited in the association’s report include the Vestas wind turbine and nacelle plants in Windsor and Brighton. The Danish wind power company cut jobs and consolidated operations in Colorado in 2021, but in September announced a $40 million investment in the two plants and the creation of up 1,000 new jobs. Vestas makes nacelles at the Brighton plant and blades in Windsor.
CS Wind, based in South Korea, plans to expand the wind turbine tower manufacturing plant in Pueblo that it bought from Vestas. The expansion is expected to double the plant’s output to 10,000 turbine towers and add at least 850 jobs.
President Joe Biden was scheduled to visit the CS Wind facility Monday to promote clean energy investments but canceled the trip to concentrate on the conflict in the Middle East, The Associated Press reported.
The American Clean Power Association report said the wind, solar and storage sectors employ roughly 15,000 people in Colorado. The state’s clean energy capacity is nearly 7,000 megawatts of electricity, enough to power the equivalent of 2.5 million homes.
Wind and solar currently generate approximately 33% of the state’s electricity, the association said. Utility-scale wind and solar projects produce nearly $50 million annually in revenue from state and local taxes and leases of land, according to the report.
The analysis by E2 said energy efficiency jobs led Colorado’s overall energy workforce in 2022, making up close to a quarter of all energy jobs and 56% of all clean energy jobs. The report lists a total of 35,847 workers in the category.
Total employment in other sectors were: 18,022 in renewable energy generation; 4,693, clean or low-emissions vehicles; 3,240, electric grid and storage; 1,978, fuels.
Susan Nedell, E2 Mountain West advocate, said in a statement that clean energy jobs are critical to the health of the energy industry and are increasingly important to Colorado’s overall economy.
“And this trend will only increase in the coming years as clean energy jobs make up more and more of new jobs,” Nedell said.
