Employment Effects of Renewable Energy Expansion on a Regional Level—First Results of a Model-Based Approach for Germany

Philip Ulrich, Martin Distelkamp and Ulrike Lehr
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Philip Ulrich: Economic Structure Research, Heinrichstr 30, 49080 Osnabrück, Germany
Martin Distelkamp: Economic Structure Research, Heinrichstr 30, 49080 Osnabrück, Germany

Sustainability, 2012, vol. 4, issue 2, 1-17

Abstract: National studies have shown that both gross and net effects of the expansion of energy from renewable sources on employment are positive for Germany. These modeling approaches also revealed that this holds true for both present and future perspectives under certain assumptions on the development of exports, fossil fuel prices and national politics. Yet how are employment effects distributed within Germany? What components contribute to growth impacts on a regional level? To answer these questions (new) methods of regionalization were explored and developed for the example “wind energy onshore” for Germany’s federal states. The main goal was to develop a methodology which is applicable to all renewable energy technologies in future research. For the quantification and projection, it was necessary to distinguish between jobs generated by domestic investments and exports on the one hand, and jobs for operation and maintenance of existing plants on the other hand. Further, direct and indirect employment is analyzed. The results show, that gross employment is particularly high in the northwestern regions of Germany. However, especially the indirect effects are spread out over the whole country. Regions in the south not only profit from the delivery of specific components, but also from other industry and service inputs.

Keywords: renewable energy sources; input-output-analysis; regional employment; regional allocation model; interregional intermediate demand (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (18)

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