South Africa’s emerging solar photovoltaic (PV) value chain has significant potential to create employment over the current decade as utility scale and small-scale embedded generation (SSEG) capacity is added in response to the country’s Integrated Resource Plan of 2019 (IRP 2019) and moves by businesses and households to bolster security of supply through rooftop investments. A new ‘Solar PV Industry Jobs Report’ states that between 11 000 and 13 000 permanent operations and maintenance (O&M) jobs could be created by 2030, along with up to 40 000 full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs every year in the preparation, development and construction of domestic solar projects.
