New Energy Sector Jobs Report explores an industry in transition

With fossil fuels on their way out and renewable energy gaining an ever greater foothold, the energy sector is in transition. Recent events like the winter storms in Texas, and their impact on the state’s power grid, have brought conversations about renewable energy to the forefront. Add these new conversations to ongoing concern over climate change, and it is apparent that public sentiment around traditional vs. renewable energy is shifting.

Even amid COVID’s devastating economic impacts, 2020 saw Americans installing record amounts of renewables. Installations of wind and solar power rose 61% over the previous year. In 2020 alone, enough energy was added to the grid to power roughly 11 million homes for a year.

Americas’ power and utilities merger and acquisition activity around renewable energy increased in 2020 as well with 231 large-scale solar project acquisitions in 2020, compared to 192 transactions in 2019.

With such substantial forward momentum built over the last year, the outlook for clean energy in 2021 is very positive. As the industry continues to swing away from fossil fuels in favor of these new alternatives, we wanted to get a better view of the sector overall. Using LinkUp job data, we compiled a list of 100 energy companies to see how the job listings in the industry have changed.

Examining job listings in recent years, we can clearly see the effects of the large scale, societal push toward renewables. Clean energy goals and legislation, as well as clear potential profits, have many traditional energy companies diversifying their sources. And companies that have placed the biggest bets on renewables are, generally, the ones seeing the most growth.

In comparison, some of the biggest traditional energy companies, without high investments in renewable energy sources, are in distinct decline. Without substantial diversification efforts, companies risk being left behind in the energy transition.

See the full report for insights on companies with increasing AND decreasing job listings (including more graphs)—download the LinkUp Energy Sector Jobs Report now.