Despite a nationwide drop in jobs and fewer local incentives, the solar industry in Tennessee added jobs at one of the fastest rates in the country last year, especially in Southeast Tennessee.
Solar employment in the Volunteer State grew by 24 percent, or 863 more jobs, during 2017 from increased production of solar equipment, including at the Wacker Chemical plant in Charleston, Tenn.
The biggest gains in solar industry employment came last year in metropolitan Cleveland, where the $2.5 billion Wacker plant began producing a key element for solar panels last year in Charleston, Tenn. Although Wacker has suspended polysilicon production since a chemical explosion in Charleston last September injured five workers, the company has maintained most of its 687-employee staff while Wacker works to both resolve problems that may have led to the explosion and continues on a $150 million expansion of the facility.
Staff file photo by John Rawlston / The $2.5 billion Wacker plant makes polysilicon for solar power panels. An adjacent $150 million second factory by the German company will produce pyrogenic silica used in coatings, printing inks and adhesives.As a result of Wacker, solar-related jobs in metro Cleveland jumped from only 55 in 2016 to 734 last year.
In metro Chattanooga, solar employment grew by 16 percent last year to 342 persons. EPB added a 1.35 megawatt community solar array on its property off of Holtzclaw Avenue last year.