Promoting renewable energies - RETS Project

Socio-economic aspects of renewable energies in the
EU
According to reports, sales of more than €120 billion
were made by the renewable energy sector in the EU
in 2009 11 . The rankings were headed by Germany, with
total sales of nearly €37 billion, followed after a
considerable gap, by Denmark, France and Sweden,
which together made a further €36 billion. Thus a total of
60% of sales by the entire renewable energy sector was
due to these four countries. With more than €38 billion –
i.e. nearly one third of the total volume – wind energy is
the sector with the biggest sales. Solid biomass and
photovoltaic power take second and third place.
In 2009, there were already 910,000 jobs in the
renewable energy sector throughout the EU. With
over 333,000 jobs, Germany had the largest share,
followed by France with a further 135,000 jobs. As far as
the individual sectors are concerned, solid biomass
comes first with about 284,000 jobs, followed by wind
energy with about 244,000 jobs. In 2010 more than 3.5
million people were employed in the renewable
energies sector world-wide.
Figure 2: Sales in the RES sector 12
Professional qualifications and accreditation in the
renewable energies sector
Successful transition to a sustainable economy, and
increased deployment of RES technology, requires
employees with the right skills and qualifications.
Research, manufacturing, operations and maintenance,
construction and development are all areas of
employment growth within the RES sector and will
continue to develop as the industry secures further
investment. However, there is often a lack of appropriate
training at Further/Higher education institutions and
11 http://www.erneuerbare-energien.de/inhalt/42848/42761/
12 EmployRES Study: The impact of renewable energy policy on
economic growth and employment in the European Union, carried out
for the Directorate-General for Energy and Transport in the European
Commission,
http://ec.europa.eu/energy/renewables/studies/doc/renewables/2009_e
mploy_res_summary.pdf
RETS Compendium – © 2012 RETS Consortium
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