There are a wide variety of jobs available in the renewable energy industry.  This provides the opportunity for individuals with many different types and degrees of training to get involved with renewable energy.  Some jobs can be found in almost every renewable energy field, including:
•  Communications
•  Communuty Outreach
•  Sales / Marketing
•  Business Support (corporate planning and finance, accounting, human resources, law, and information technology)

Other jobs are specific to individual renewable energy technologies, including wind, solar, bioenergy, geothermal, and hydropower.

Jobs in Wind Power 

The wind industry employs both professional and skilled workers in a number of different capacities. New wind projects require people with business, meteorological, and engineering experience to plan and build projects.
•  Meteorologists help engineers identify appropriate sites with suitable wind conditions.
•  Engineers then design the wind plant, working with the utility companies and communities.
•  Construction workers build the wind plant.
•  Mechanical and electrical technicians, called "windsmiths," are required to operate and maintain the wind turbines.
•  Mechanical, electrical, and aeronautical engineers with advanced degrees, and experienced technicians are generally employed by R&D industry and research 
laboratories constantly try to improve the design and efficiency of wind turbines.
However, others with technical backgrounds may also find jobs.
  

Jobs in Solar Power

Growth of the solar power industry creates high-wage, skilled jobs throughout the country for individuals with many different types of training. R&D groups at national laboratories, universities, and private companies develop and continually improve solar products to lower their costs and improve their reliability. Individuals employed in solar R&D generally have professional degrees in electrical, mechanical, and chemical engineering; materials science, and/or physics. Many of the people involved with technologies that are still under development, such as parabolic dish systems, focus on R&D.  As each technology progresses from the R&D phase toward full-scale commercialization, an increasing number of both professional and skilled workers are needed to sell, manufacture, design, install, and maintain equipment. The PV and solar hot water industries currently employ the majority of these workers, including:
•  Electricians, engineers, technicians, and technical managers.
•  As utility-scale CSP technologies become commercially viable, the CSP industry eventually require an increasing number of these workers, and engineers and construction workers to design and build power plants.
•  The passive solar industry involves many of these professions as well, but also employs architects and builders.

Jobs in Bioenergy

Universities, national laboratories, and industry are working together to find solutions to the difficult problems surrounding the production and use of biomass for energy and products. These R&D efforts require chemists, agricultural specialists, microbiologists, biochemists, and engineers, just to name a few.  Biofuel, biopower, and biobased product plants are most cost-effective when located near their source of biomass. Thus, bioenergy industry development has a special appeal because it creates direct and indirect jobs in rural areas of the country, and may prove to be a profitable complement for many existing agricultural and forestry businesses. 
•  Engineers and construction workers are needed to design and build bioenergy plants.
•  Electrical/electronic and mechanical technicians, engineers (mechanical,  electrical, and chemical), mechanics, and equipment operators are needed to run  and maintain these plants. Some may even require individuals cross-trained in areas such as engineering and biology, or chemistry and agriculture.

Jobs in bioenergy today cut across a wide spectrum of specialties and skills. And if R&D and industrial efforts succeed in making bioenergy more commercially profitable, we may see a dramatic increase in the number of bioenergy-related jobs. We'll need more farmers and foresters to produce and harvest biomass resources, more truckers to transport the resources to the power and fuel plants, and more operators to run facilities.

Jobs in Geothermal Energy

The geothermal industry employs both skilled workers and those with professional degrees. 
•  Geologists, geochemists, geophysicists, hydrologists, reservoir engineers, mud loggers, hydraulic engineers are required for developing hot water reservoirs
•  Drillers locate, assess, and access the reservoirs.
•  Environmental scientists prepare environmental impact studies.
•  Permit and leasing specialists obtain the land rights.
•  Heating engineers are needed in geothermal direct-use technologies, and in building and agricultural industries.
•  Engineers (electrical and mechanical) and construction workers are needed for electricity production.
•  Electrical technicians, electricians, electrical machinists, welders, riggers, and mechanics—are needed to design and construct power plants.
•  Mechanical engineers, geologists, drilling crews, and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning contractors are needed to manufacture and install GHPs.
•  Mechanical and electronic engineers, geologists, chemists, and materials scientists are required for ongoing R&D.

Jobs in Hydropower

As with many of the other renewable energy technologies, the design, construction, and maintenance of hydropower plants requires:
•  Electrical and mechanical engineers, technicians, and skilled workers.
•  Recreation planners, resource managers, and educators are needed if managing the reservoir and surrounding land is part of the project.
•  Environmental scientists (biologists, hydrologists, ecologists, and wildlife habitat specialists are employed to assess environmental impacts and address remediation.
•  Environmental scientists and engineers, also participate in R&D efforts through private companies, national laboratories, and universities.

A career in renewable energy is a valuable way for individuals with a wide range of skills and interests to help guide the United States toward a secure, environmentally conscious energy future.