Local impact of renewables on employment: Assessment methodology and case study

This paper presents an integrated method that assesses the socio-economic impact of establishing renewable energy on a regional scale, in particular on the creation of jobs. The method proposed is based on the collection, critical analysis and presentation of the results obtained using primary information sources considering the jobs created as the most direct measure of the socio-economic potential of renewable energy sources. Its design includes contributions extracted from a prior analysis of the existing assessment methods, to lessen the uncertainty of the job ratios often used in these types of analysis. The integrated method implemented has been applied to the autonomous community of Aragon (Spain) as a pilot case, through which the method has been tested and the indicators selected to analyse the socio-economic impact of renewable energy sources on the jobs created, the quality of the jobs and other factors related to the socio-economic development of a territory: technological development, per capita income, territorial development and human capital.