On July 30 of this year, AES Corporation—a U.S.-based electric power utility and generation company with over ten thousand employees worldwide—announced a paradigm shift in the world of renewable energy installations: Robots.
According to the company, the newly introduced “Maximo” robot, which has been deployed to install nearly 10 megawatts of photovoltaic modules so far, was its response to a shortage of solar panel installation workers. To keep up with the demands of a clean energy transition, as reported by the New York Times, solar installation companies are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence (AI) as a substitute for human labor for two reasons: There simply aren’t enough workers to meet demand for solar installations, and robots are more exploitable than human workers.
It is well-known that the renewables workforce is too small to meet the needs of a swift and complete transition away from fossil fuels. Less commonly discussed is the reality of working conditions in renewable energy industries—particularly in comparison to working conditions for fossil fuel jobs. Renewable installation jobs are notorious for inadequate pay, poor working conditions, insufficient benefits, low unionization rates, and geographic instability. According to the MIT Living Wage Calculator, as of 2023, a living wage in the United States was $25.02 per hour. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in 2023 that the median wage of solar panel installers was less than $23.50 per hour. That means that more than half of all U.S. solar panel installers do not make a living wage.
In stark contrast, fossil fuel workers earned substantially more than the living wage: The average pay for a boilermaker in 2023 was $34.20 per hour, and the average pay for a petroleum engineer was over $65 per hour. Moreover, while fossil fuel jobs offer stable employment and benefits, usually enforced by collective bargaining agreements, recent reporting reveals that renewable energy installers—a largely nonunionized workforce—must travel across state lines in search of temporary work opportunities with minimal labor protections.
The labor market itself and its existing incentive structure pushes workers toward the fossil fuel industry and away from renewables. Yet, renewable energy companies are responding to the lack of available workers not by raising wages to attract more workers, but by eliminating these positions and replacing them with robots that work for free and never sign on to collective bargaining agreements.
Facing an increasingly urgent need for a rapid and sustained shift away from fossil fuels, the present energy sector labor market conditions threaten to undermine policy goals and forestall the possibility of a just transition. By encouraging workers to remain in fossil fuel jobs, and consequently hindering them from joining the renewables labor force, disparities within the labor market will prolong the inequitable environmental harms of the fossil fuel industry while limiting the growth potential of renewable energy industries. Moreover, the replacement of renewable energy jobs with AI will leave displaced fossil fuel workers without options for jobs in the renewable sector when their fossil fuel jobs are eventually phased out.
Workers need not lose their jobs and economic security in the energy transition. Nor need they choose between a livable climate and a livable wage. A just transition is possible, but only by prioritizing the needs of workers—not profits—in the transition to a clean energy economy.
