Nevada sees rapid growth in solar industry jobs

It still produces only a small percentage of Nevada’s power, but the solar industry is generating jobs in the Silver State.

Solar power brought 3,500 new jobs to Nevada in 2014, a 146 percent increase over 2013 that pushed the state to No. 1 in the nation in solar jobs per capita, according to a report released Thursday.

The report from The Solar Foundation ranked Nevada seventh nationally with 5,900 total jobs in the solar industry.

The independent, nonprofit research group counted 106 solar companies doing business statewide, with most jobs coming in the areas of installation, project development and manufacturing.

“Nevada’s solar jobs growth was the most impressive in the country in 2014,” foundation president and executive director Andrea Luecke said in a written statement. “146 percent jobs growth is nearly double the next highest state, and Nevada leapfrogged seven other states to claim the No. 1 slot in jobs per capita.”

Only California has generated more than 3,500 new solar jobs in a single year.

Critics of the industry argue that such jobs are temporary at best and that the recent gains will disappear quickly as solar facilities are built, leaving behind a skeleton crew of operations staff. Advocates of renewable energy counter that the same can be said of almost any construction or infrastructure project, including the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline.

As of last year, Nevada had seen about $2.3 billion invested in solar-power generation in the state, most of it in the form of utility-scale projects, according to the Clean Energy Project, a nonprofit, nonpartisan group that promotes investment in energy efficiency and renewable energy in the West.

In September, Arizona-based First Solar broke ground on what will rank — for the time being, at least — as the state’s largest solar-power facility, a 250 megawatt array on 2,500 acres of federal land near Primm, 50 miles south of Las Vegas. The project is expected to generate 300 construction jobs, though only 10 people will be needed to operate it when it is finished next year.

But not all of Nevada’s solar jobs have come from the construction of large arrays.

Lyndon Rive is CEO of California-based SolarCity, the nation’s largest installer of residential solar panels. He said in a statement that his company has gone from zero staff in Nevada to more than 1,000. “And we’re still hiring,” Rive said.

“I am proud that Nevada leads the nation in solar jobs and opportunities,” said Gov. Brian Sandoval in a statement. “Nevada is emerging as a leader in new technology and innovation, and this announcement demonstrates the possibilities within our state if we continue to recruit the growing industries of the 21st century.”

The solar industry still has a lot of growing to do. There are roughly 3,000 more people working at the MGM Grand than there are in solar jobs across the state.

The Solar Foundation report notes that some 82,000 homes are now powered by solar energy in Nevada, but the industry’s total output of less than 700 megawatts accounts for roughly 8 percent of the state’s overall power capacity.

A single NV Energy power plant — the 1,100 megawatt, natural gas-fueled Clark Generating Station at Russell Road and U.S. Highway 95 — produces almost twice as much electricity as all Nevada solar arrays combined.

The foundation’s full National Solar Jobs Census report is available at TheSolarFoundation.org.

Contact Henry Brean at hbrean@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0350. Follow @RefriedBrean on Twitter.