EU Solar Sector Breaks Employment Records in 2024, But Growth Set To Pause In 2025

Europe’s solar sector continues to play a leading role in the continent’s green job expansion, reaching a record high of 865,000 jobs in 2024. This represents a 5 percent increase, significantly outpacing the broader EU labour market growth of 0.8 percent. The majority of these jobs, around 86 percent, are concentrated in the solar deployment sector, highlighting the industry’s capacity to create employment while driving renewable energy adoption.

Despite this growth, the EU solar workforce is expected to experience a temporary slowdown in 2025. Job numbers are projected to decline by 5 percent, falling to 825,000 due to slower solar deployment and manufacturing challenges. Nevertheless, employment in the sector is expected to rebound in the coming years, reaching 916,000 jobs by 2029. Walburga Hemetsberger, CEO of SolarPower Europe, noted that while 825,000 quality solar jobs is a remarkable achievement, the halt in growth serves as a warning. She emphasized the need for EU leaders to stabilise the market, support domestic solar manufacturers, and strengthen skills development to maintain momentum.

The slowdown in solar employment is primarily driven by declining residential solar activity, influenced by easing energy crisis impacts and insufficient system flexibility. The EU rooftop solar workforce has been shrinking steadily over the past three years, from 73 percent in 2022 to 59 percent in 2024, and it is projected to drop further to 56 percent by 2029. As a result, the EU Solar Jobs Report has revised its previous projection that Europe would reach 1 million solar jobs by 2027, with this milestone now expected to be achieved only by 2030.

At the national level, there have been notable shifts. Germany remains the EU’s largest solar employer with 128,000 jobs despite a 17 percent decrease from 2023 to 2024. Spain ranks second with 122,000 jobs, reflecting its focus on less labour-intensive utility-scale projects, while Italy is in third place and is expected to surpass Spain by 2029 due to steady market growth and an emphasis on large-scale solar installations. Poland, previously the second-largest solar employer, fell to fourth place with around 90,000 jobs, largely because of a decline in its residential rooftop market.

To ensure the solar workforce continues to support Europe’s decarbonisation objectives, the EU Solar Jobs Report recommends a comprehensive set of policy measures. These include establishing a European Solar Skills Intelligence Hub, scaling and stabilising funding for renewable skills, mapping existing skills initiatives, and concluding sectoral agreements for large-scale retraining. The report also calls for coordinated campaigns to make technical green careers, apprenticeships, and vocational training more attractive, while promoting gender balance and diversity in the solar sector.

Additional recommendations focus on developing cross-renewable career pathways, introducing a European Solar Skills Passport, linking solar skills to electrification strategies in heat, mobility, and storage, and investing in advanced digital and artificial intelligence (AI) training programs. These measures are designed to strengthen Europe’s solar workforce, ensuring it remains a key driver of the continent’s transition to a low-carbon economy while addressing the evolving challenges of the renewable energy sector.