The solar business is now a $6 billion industry, up 300% from 2006, said officials with the Solar Foundation, a nonprofit affiliated with solar energy industry.
With 100,237 jobs as of August, solar employers expect their workforce to grow 24% next year, according to the foundation's National Solar Jobs Census 2011, completed in partnership with BW Research Partnership's Green LMI Consulting division and Cornell University.
"It's great news," said Andrea Luecke, executive director of the Solar Foundation. "Despite a struggling economy and the worst recession since the Depression and despite the Solyndra debacle, the industry is experiencing record-breaking trade numbers, record-breaking installed capacity, and record-breaking private investment."
Read more: edition.cnn.com/2011/10/19/us/solar-jobs/
Solar Energy Industry Posts Record Growth, Despite Solyndra Collapse
Date: 24 October 2011
Source: http://edition.cnn.com
Los Angeles (CNN) -- Despite the Solyndra collapse that has tarnished solar energy, the industry has grown into "a major economic force" with a job base that expanded 6.8% the past year, nearly 10 times faster than the overall economy, industry representatives said Tuesday.