In Southern states, clean energy manufacturing jobs are shining (original) (raw)

(Credit: Automotive Rhythms / Flickr)

Southern states continue to benefit the most from the investments and tax incentives passed in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), with five of the six new IRA-enabled projects announced in August in the South.

Since the IRA, nearly half of all new large-scale clean energy projects announced have been in the South.

Overall, companies announced more than $2.4 billion in investments in six new large-scale clean energy projects last month that are expected to employee at least 2,580 workers across five states, according to E2’s monthly tally of private-sector projects made possible by (IRA).

The August announcements bring the total number of new major projects announced across the renewable energy, battery storage, transmission and grid, electric vehicle and other clean energy industries to 340 since the IRA was signed into law in August 2022.

Among the projects announced was a 1.4billionsodium−ionbatterymanufacturingplantinNorthCarolinathatisexpectedtohiremorethan1,000workersonceoperational,anda1.4 billion sodium-ion battery manufacturing plant in North Carolina that is expected to hire more than 1,000 workers once operational, and a 1.4billionsodium−ionbatterymanufacturingplantinNorthCarolinathatisexpectedtohiremorethan1,000workersonceoperational,anda942 million in a solar cell manufacturing factory in New Mexico that is expected create 900 jobs. One project announcement included no investment estimates.

All six announcements are manufacturing operations. North Carolina remains the state with the most total investments announced for new projects. More than 21billioninprivate−sectorinvestmentsincleanenergyprojectshavebeenannouncedinNorthCarolina–nearly21 billion in private-sector investments in clean energy projects have been announced in North Carolina – nearly 21billioninprivate−sectorinvestmentsincleanenergyprojectshavebeenannouncedinNorthCarolina–nearly6 billion more than the next closest state. Additionally, the solar energy sector saw the most new announcements in August, with four.

In all, at least 340 major clean energy projects have been announced in 40 states and Puerto Rico since the IRA became law, according to E2’s analysis. Companies have said they plan to invest more than $128 billion in these projects and hire more 111,500 workers. These figures reflect ongoing revisions to previous months’ announcement totals.

Solar module manufacturing capacity in the United States now exceeds 31 gigawatts (GW) — a nearly four-fold increase since the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) became law in 2022, according to another new report.

Per the U.S. Solar Market Insight Q3 2024 report released by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and Wood Mackenzie, federal clean energy policies continue to drive manufacturing and deployment growth as the solar industry installed 9.4 GW of new electric generation capacity in Q2 2024.

In two years under the IRA, the solar industry has added 75 GW of new capacity to the grid, representing over 36% of all solar capacity built in U.S. history. Additionally, nearly 1.5 million American homes have installed solar since the IRA passed.

A domestic solar supply chain has been slowly strengthening in the U.S., but the viability of solar cell manufacturing in the United States is still up in the air.

The U.S. has plenty of places that assemble solar modules, but domestic production of components that comprise them is extremely limited. Only three companies are currently known to make polysilicon here- Hemlock in Michigan, Wacker in Tennessee, and REC Silicon in Washington, which produces materials for QCells. However, there are several intriguing U.S. facilities planned or already under construction that may ultimately prove we can make solar at home cost-effectively.

Detailed below is a list of clean energy announcements tracked by E2 in June along with totals by state, sector, industry type, and congressional district for all projects announced since E2 began tracking in August 2022:

Clean Energy Works August 2024 | projects announced by date

Clean Energy Works | total projects announced by state Aug. 2022-August 2024

Clean Energy Works | total projects announced by sector Aug. 2022-Aug. 2024

*totals will not match overall figures as some projects are categorized into multiple sectors

Clean Energy Works | total projects announced by type Aug. 2022-Aug. 2024

A full map and list of announcements is available here.