OPPORTUNITIES IN SMART GRID

Study: Smart Grid Job Market Has Huge Potential
19 April 2011 (Renew Grid)

"The smart grid has already created thousands of U.S. jobs and has the potential to create many more, concludes a new report by a Duke University research team.

"The Duke researchers studied 125 leading U.S. smart grid firms to assess their potential role in creating jobs in areas such as information technology, core communications, smart hardware, energy services, energy management, telecom service and system integration. They estimate that U.S. suppliers for smart grid technologies have already created more than 17,000 U.S. jobs."

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"…U.S. Smart Grid: Finding New Ways to Cut Carbon and Create Jobs] notes valuable export opportunities to be tapped by U.S. firms…[and] highlights well-established manufacturers that not only provide new devices to the smart grid market, but have also found new niches in software and services.

"…[The report also] identifies 334 U.S. locations in 39 states that are already developing or manufacturing products for a smart grid. The region with the largest number of sites is the Southeast, with California having the most sites of any one state. Nationwide, utilities now have more than 200 smart grid projects under way…"