2021 In Review

Final Outlook of the year!

As we wind down 2021, let's give a quick recap of renewable energy under the Biden administration. First and foremost, our industry finally felt some certainty and assurance from the federal government. This certainty has spiked growth in residential, commercial, and utility-scale solar, onshore & offshore wind, and battery energy storage across all market verticals. Most importantly, lawmakers and industry lobbyists got the Infrastructure and Jobs Act passed which promises $80B to combat climate change through grid upgrades, renewable energy, and electric vehicle infrastructure. This marks a huge milestone for our country, our industry, and our planet!

This is our last newsletter of 2021, and we'll be sharing some of our observations and insight on high-level talent acquisition within renewable energy. I'm honored to say that 2021 was the best year to date for EnergeiaWorks. We grew 115% over 2020. Thank you to our customers and job-seekers for supporting EnergeiaWorks in our 11th year of business. And, of course, thank you to my fast-growing team at EnergeiaWorks. #teamEW wouldn't be #teamEW without each of you!

Was there clean energy job growth in 2021?

2021 was a funky year of labor and talent shortages across the entire job market resulting from the Great Resignation. But I would argue that renewable energy led many industries with new job creation. While the official numbers from SEIA, ACP, ESA, and the Solar Foundation (Solar Jobs Census sponsored by EnergeiaWorks!) won't be out for months, I can predict some of what we'll see based on the demand within EnergeiaWorks. Even though we had an amazing year, we had a difficult time dealing with the market conditions. Each search took us 25% longer to fill and we had the worst closing ratio in company history because of competing offers.

What's in store for 2022?

More of the same. While I do think talent acquisition is experiencing its own inflation, I don't think it's going to deflate just yet. At some point, the supply vs demand will level out and salaries will readjust, but we're not quite there. The demand for service is still extremely high and I'd be disappointed if we didn't have another 100% growth year in 2022.

I will continue to monitor the employment market in clean energy and report more industry data each month. At the end of Q1, I'll plan to do a deep-dive into 2021 hiring in solar, onshore wind, offshore wind, and energy storage once the associations give us some hiring facts.

How did EnergeiaWorks fare during 2021?

Heading into the new year, our current roster of open positions (94 roles across 44 active hiring clients) is the strongest pipeline we've ever supported and we have no shortage of new customers being onboarded every week.

While our revenue represents just a fraction of the overall hiring in renewable energy, EnergeiaWorks is the largest recruiting firm that exclusively searches for clean energy in the US and Canada, and I believe our revenue is a good indication of the overall job health in renewables.

In 2021, we filled roles in manufacturing, engineering, procurement, construction/project management, field service, project development, mergers and acquisitions, asset management, software development, sales and business development and more. These positions were spread across the renewable energy landscape: DG and community solar, utility-scale solar and wind, energy storage, electric vehicle infrastructure, etc. We also started to see new positions and projects in hydroelectricity, offshore wind, large-scale energy storage, and waste-to-energy.

Within our job fulfillment, we are noticing trends for greater hiring spend for consulting services, expanded use of private equity, significant increases in energy storage deployment, and the growing role of independent power producers as more developers choose to hold assets. We also gained 10% more hires on solar and lost 10% of hires across our wind.

If you'd like more information about global jobs in renewable energy, I recommend IRENA's employment report. Domestically, IREC & The Solar Foundation covers important ground with their annual Solar Census, and ACP issues a comprehensive report for clean energy labor supply in the US.

Connect with Team EW today

If you are currently exploring a new job in your renewable energy career in 2022, we invite you to have a look at our careers portal. If you're looking to hire top talent in manufacturing, project development, finance, construction, operations, or energy asset management professionals, reach out to us today.