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KUNC is among the founding partners of the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration of public media stations that serve the Western states of Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.

Solar Jobs Up Nationwide, With Some Mountain West States Heating Up

U.S. Department of Energy

Solar jobs are up across the U.S., after two consecutive years of declines. But that growth is mixed in our region.

According to the latest report from the nonprofit solar energy advocate, The Solar Foundation, more than 5,600 solar jobs were added last year.

Ed Gilliland is the senior director of programs for the organization. He said employment is going up, because the cost of building solar projects are going down — even with tariffs on imported materials.

“The global markets for these materials, the prices are down globally. And they’re down enough to really offset the impact of the tariffs,” Gilliland said. “So prices are still lower now than they were before the tariffs.”

Gilliland said more large scale utility projects are coming online, especially as states look to adopt more aggressive renewable energy targets.

“The utility-scale solar market was much more active in 2019, requiring additional solar workers to begin or complete these projects,” the report states.

In our region, the results of the analysis were mixed. For example, Nevada has the most per capita solar jobs in the country. Wyoming ranked 47th.

This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUER in Salt Lake City, KUNR in Nevada, the O’Connor Center For the Rocky Mountain West in Montana, and KRCC and KUNC in Colorado.

Copyright 2020 KUNR Public Radio. To see more, visit .

Noah Glick is from the small town of Auburn, Indiana and comes to KUNR from the Bay Area, where he spent his post-college years learning to ride his bike up huge hills. He’s always had a love for radio, but his true passion for public radio began when he discovered KQED in San Francisco. Along with a drive to discover the truth and a degree in Journalism from Ball State University, he hopes to bring a fresh perspective to local news coverage.
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