Advanced energy sector added jobs

Jobs in renewable energy, battery storage and energy efficiency grew by 4 percent last year in Texas, nearly twice as fast as the overall employment rate, according to a new study.

The advanced energy sector — which also includes products and services in solar, wind and nuclear power, biofuels, and even hybrid and electric vehicles — employed 254,000 workers in Texas last year, surpassing real estate, which employed 231,000 and chemical manufacturing with 83,000, according to the energy industry trade group Texas Advanced Energy Business Alliance.

Employers in the sector were planning to increase their workforce by 5 percent, or 12,700 workers, this year, based on surveys taken in the fall, according to the alliance. But the prediction fell flat — much like the robust hiring plans of other industries — because of the coronavirus outbreak.

The industry instead lost about 10 percent of its workforce, about 25,000 jobs, since the pandemic began to spread in March. But it has regained an estimated 8,000 jobs in June.

“With above-average job growth in the past and more expected coming into this year, advanced energy should play a big role in our state’s economic recovery from the impact of the coronavirus,” said Suzanne Bertin, managing director of the alliance.

But another business group in Texas says renewable energy employers are getting an unfair advantage because they receive renewable energy subsidies and are selling power below cost to gain market share. The low cost of wind and solar power is driving out other sources of energy from the Texas market, according to the business advocacy group Texas Business Coalition.

In Texas, employment in energy efficiency, which includes heating and air conditioning systems, efficient lighting and appliances, represents the biggest advanced energy category in Texas, with 169,400 jobs last year, according to the Texas Advanced Energy Business Alliance. The category grew by 4 percent in 2019 compared with the previous year.

As more grocery stores, gas stations and consumers use private generators to prevent power loss during storms and other outages, the advanced grid and energy storage sector increased employment by 5 percent, reaching 13,200 jobs in Texas last year. More narrowly, microgrid employment increased by 11 percent, according to the study.

Harris County had the most advanced energy employment in Texas with 61,300 jobs, nearly twice as many as second-place Dallas County, which had 37,500 jobs.