Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many people were employed in the UK solar industry in (a) 2015, (b) 2016, (c) 2017, (d) 2018 and (e) 2019.
The ONS produces estimates of the size of the UK’s green economy from the Low Carbon and Renewable Energy Economy Survey. Estimates for employment in the UK solar industry from 2015-2018 are listed below. Estimates for 2019 are not yet available.
Comparing estimates from the Low Carbon and Renewable Energy Economy Survey from 2014 with estimates from later years of the survey is not advised because of changes in the sample methodology in 2015. The survey sample size was reduced from around 40,000 in 2014 to around 14,000 in 2015.
Employment (full time equivalent)
|
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 |
|
| Estimate | Estimate | Estimate | Estimate | Estimate |
Solar photovoltaic | UK | 9,800 | 9,900 | 4,900 | 5,400 | 6,600 |
| England | 8,800 | 9,300 | 4,400 | 5,000 | 5,600 |
| Scotland | 300 | 300 | 200 | 100 | 300 |
| Wales | 500 | 200 | 100 | 200 | 500 |
| Northern Ireland | 200 | ~ | 200 | 100 | 200 |