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Last year, the number of jobs in North Carolina’s economy grew by about 1%. But growth in clean energy employment outpaced other sectors, according to a new report.
The advocacy group E2 found that clean energy jobs grew by about 3% in 2024. That includes jobs that make new clean energy, as well as put that energy to work or use energy more efficiently.
“Another year of data demonstrating that clean energy is a really powerful engine for job growth in North Carolina,” said Zach Amittay, E2’s Southeast advocate.
He said growth trends were largely in line with what past reports have shown. North Carolina remains in the top 10 for most clean energy jobs in the country, with businesses employing around 113,000 workers. For context, that’s significantly more than the number of teachers, and includes about 15% of total construction jobs in the state, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Mecklenburg and Wake counties made the top 30 list of counties with the most jobs across these sectors.
Within the broad category of “clean energy,” the energy efficiency sector employs significantly more workers than any other. That includes HVAC technicians, lighting experts and other jobs that either electrify the home or make it consume energy more efficiently. The state has continued investing in this workforce into 2025, announcing the Energy Saver NC program in January, which gives homeowners up to $16,000 back on home electrification and efficiency projects.
The clean vehicle sector halted its upward trajectory last year, mirroring the national decline in automotive manufacturing jobs during the last couple of years.
“This year, we actually saw a slight reduction in that workforce,” Amittay said. The sector shrank 2.5%, even as North Carolina’s EV supply chain continues to develop. When combined with new EV battery manufacturing, such as the $14 billion Toyota battery manufacturing plant in Liberty, N.C., the state remains in the top four nationally for investments in manufacturing EVs and batteries.
Making clean energy work post-IRA
Amittay said the Inflation Reduction Act and its associated tax credits drove much of the growth that year. “Plenty of this growth would have happened regardless of the policy landscape.”
“Renewable generation continues to be a notch above the economy statewide,” he said. “What’s really kind of head and shoulders above statewide growth is storage and grid.”
That includes folks such as Charlotte-based Heimdall Power’s president, Brita Formato, who presented about her new powerline “neuron” during an E2 event last week in Charlotte. The device provides real-time data to utilities about their transmission line capacity:
“Using the infrastructure that we already have will bridge us to that 7-10 years that we need to build out the grid,” Formato said. In addition to new clean energy jobs, technologies like Heimdall Power’s neuron are lowering electricity bills.
Looking ahead, Amittay said he expects growth to continue, albeit more slowly.
“What we’re doing is leaving some potential for jobs on the table,” said Amittay, referring to changes in federal policy during the last year. President Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill eliminated or greatly restricted federal incentives for solar installations and manufacturing.
This new political landscape has made renewable energy businesses in particular more sensitive to state and local changes. During this past legislative session, lawmakers removed a key carbon pollution reduction target and took aim at a tax abatement for utility-scale solar projects. Meanwhile, other initiatives, such as Duke Energy’s PowerPair and Solarize Charlotte-Mecklenburg, have helped buoy rooftop solar sales into the first quarter of 2026.
He anticipates that grid and battery storage will continue growing rapidly.
“We’re already seeing the impact of less certainty long-term on the project pipeline for renewable generation and other clean energy sectors,” Amittay said. Duke Energy has pulled back on some near-term solar commitments in favor of battery storage and natural gas. The utility released its biennial carbon and resource plan in October, proposing a less aggressive solar procurement target. It completely eliminated plans to pursue wind energy in the next 15 years.
