Much of this investment will go towards building out renewable energy sources, replacing aging infrastructure, and accommodating the growth in the grid’s power load. The total spending on power transmission in the US alone is expected to be around $302 billion between 2024 and 2030.
In Europe, similarly, power demand is expected to increase by 3.5% CAGR from 2023 to 2030, with a particular focus on renewables. Solar and wind generation capacity in the EU is expected to grow at 11.4% CAGR during the same period.
Why the power sector needs more workers
The surge in power demand requires more labor in general as well as more skilled labor in particular.
For power sectors to expand their base of renewables, they’ll need more workers. Renewable sources of power are over 2.5 times more labor-intensive than fossil fuels on average across their lifecycle, from manufacturing through construction and installation to operations and maintenance.
Further labor demand will come from the transmission and distribution industries—especially since renewable energy sources are often located farther from the areas they serve.
The US is expected to have 300 gigawatts (GW) of additional power generation capacity by 2030; Goldman Sachs Research’s estimates suggest that 207,000 additional electricity transmission and interconnection workers will be needed to facilitate that capacity. Manufacturing, construction, and operations of power technologies in the US will need another 300,000 jobs. In Europe, our analysts estimate that around 250,000 incremental jobs are required by 2030 to meet the expected demand for electricity.
With renewables, the construction of power projects in the US and the operation and maintenance of such projects in the EU come with lower-risk labor challenges, in our analysts’ view. This is because of the relatively low level of training and skilling required as well as the greater potential for automation of such work. On the other hand, work on electricity transmission requires a higher level of training, so it presents a greater potential labor challenge, according to Goldman Sachs Research.
The skilled labor shortage in the power sector
In the US and Europe, labor shortages are causing growing risks for companies. Worker shortages contribute the largest source of project delays, according to the AGC 2024 Workforce Survey. The energy sector, too, is experiencing some of these constraints.