Georgia is making major contributions to the U.S. clean energy transition, the Department of Energy said in a fact sheet released ahead of Secretary Jennifer Granholm’s visit to the state. Granholm plans to meet with local labor leaders Wednesday to highlight the build-out of the U.S. renewable energy workforce.
Georgia is a hub for solar manufacturing in particular. It’s the U.S. manufacturing headquarters for multinational company Hanwha Q Cells, which announced in January that it will invest more than $2.5 billion in the solar supply chain by expanding its facilities in the state.
That investment makes Georgia home to more than half of the $5 billion in U.S. solar manufacturing investments that DOE has tracked since the beginning of the Biden administration, with more than $2.8 billion in investments and over 4,100 jobs arriving in the state, according to the fact sheet.
Granholm is on a weeklong tour of the Southeast’s clean energy manufacturing facilities, or “Battery Belt,” traveling in an electric vehicle and touting technologies that include virtual power plants.
"We wanted to come to the South because employers are coming to the South,” Granholm said during a Monday stop in North Carolina, WUNC reported.
On Wednesday, Granholm plans to discuss with labor leaders “efforts to strengthen America’s energy workforce, including in the electric vehicle workforce in which jobs are booming, and engage with groups working to increase inclusion and access to the clean energy sector,” DOE said.
Close to 195,000 Georgians were employed in the energy sector in 2021, DOE said in its fact sheet. In the Atlanta area, 57% of the electric power generation workforce was in wind, solar, and hydroelectric that year, while in the Athens area, 94% of it was.
“The Inflation Reduction Act will expand these opportunities, bringing an estimated $180 million of investment in large-scale clean power generation and storage to Georgia between now and 2030,” DOE said.
