Solar sector offers 37 thousand jobs in the first months of 2020

“The solar energy sector is one of the biggest job generators in Brazil and in the world”, says Ronaldo Koloszuk, president of ABSOLAR (Brazilian Association of Photovoltaic Solar Energy). For the specialist, the photovoltaic segment, even amid the Covid-19 pandemic, has been standing out and has become an escape valve for those seeking to re-enter the job market.

According to ABSOLAR, in the first five months of this year, the solar energy sector generated more than 37 thousand new jobs in the country. “To give you an idea, in the USA our sector already generates more jobs than the oil, oil and gas sectors combined. Here in Brazil, more than 130 thousand jobs have been created. This is because the market is still in its infancy,” he says. Koloszuk.

The association also points out that solar sources are responsible for more than a third of the more than 11 million renewable jobs in the world. For each new megawatt installed, the segment adds between 25 and 30 new jobs, with the majority created locally, in the regions where photovoltaic solar systems are installed.

“We are talking about quality jobs. There are engineers, technicians and installers in every corner of the country. This number tends to increase rapidly when the pandemic passes. We took a detailed study to the federal government, as we understand that the solar sector could contribute significantly to the Brazilian economic recovery”, comments Koloszuk.

Solar market: storehouse of opportunities

One of the industries offering job opportunities is MySol, a photovoltaic solar energy integrator company focused on distributed generation, located in Sorocaba (SP).

“Despite high unemployment in several sectors of the country, due to the closure of small companies and the fact that large companies stop hiring, the solar energy market has absorbed part of these workers, as is the case with MySol. We are currently hiring installers, depending on the demand for our services. I therefore believe that the sector, once again, is proving to be important for the growth and sustainability of the economy”, commented Elvis Almeida, commercial director at MySol.

Another network that is also generating job opportunities is Solarprime, a solar energy franchise company, based in Campinas (SP). According to Raphael Brito, executive director of Solarprime, they are taking the moment to review processes and strategically professionalize the team, which, consequently, by optimizing production, generates more job vacancies in the sector.

“Happy is the one who can bring out the good in every situation. We, at Solarprime, took advantage of the current break, bringing in top executives for all sectors who, in this way, optimize all productivity, implementing and monitoring the goals of the entire team, reducing costs and increasing revenue. This generates a result that allows us to bring even more good people to our cast, creating a highly virtuous cycle”, said Brito.

Open your own business

According to the annual report by GEM (Global Entrepreneurship Monitor), carried out by Sebrae and IBQP (Brazilian Institute of Quality and Productivity), entrepreneurship occupies fourth place on the wish list, behind only buying a car, traveling around Brazil and having a house own.

From 2008 to 2019, the number of Brazilians aged 18 to 64 who had a business or were involved in creating one jumped from 14,6 million to 53,4 million. One of those who fit this profile is Henrique Maritan, electrical engineer and owner of Liberty Energia Solar.

Maritan found the photovoltaic sector an opportunity to open his own business and overcome the unemployment caused by the economic crisis. He founded the company about three months ago and, despite the coronavirus, he received a project to build a photovoltaic plant with 80 solar panels in Ribeirão Preto-SP.

“The pandemic made me wait to hire employees and make some specific investments, but I maintained investment in digital marketing and partners to prospect for new business. Today, I only have one salesperson. I design and execute the design and installation myself”, explains the engineer.

Maritan also highlighted the importance of courses for relocation into the job market. “I have already done the Advanced Course on Distributed Generation Solar Plant Design up to 5MW, offered by Canal Solar. Therefore, the outlook is still good due to my experience in the area and because the market is already booming,” he concluded.

Projects in the photovoltaic sector

The solar energy sector remains strong, and the person who has been taking advantage of this segment's resilience in the face of the pandemic is the director of Inca Solar, Cirano Shibuya. His company managed to complete, in April, the construction of a photovoltaic plant with its own capital, something that had not been done before.

“We had money on hand and decided to invest part of our personal savings in a project that was a little more daring. At the end of February I went to live in Santa Barbara do Tugúrio (MG), a small town close to Barbacena, to build the plant. In order to save resources, we decided to work directly on the site, instead of hiring installation. Throughout the month of March, we built our plant. Today, it returns us almost 3% per month on the capital invested, generating more than 20% savings for the client”, said Shibuya.

He also highlighted the importance of training courses in the photovoltaic sector, which are essential when planning and executing a project. “In the middle of the construction of the plant, I went to Campinas to take the Grounding and SPDA of Canal Solar, which helped me a lot.”

And it's not just students who are benefiting from the job opportunities that the photovoltaic market offers. The professor responsible for the Grounding and SPDA course at Canal Solar, Paulo Edmundo Freire, commented that several companies are looking for him, despite the crisis.

“In the last three months, demand has increased, both for distributed generation plant projects, in the range of 1 to 5 MW, and for large plants, between 100 and 500 MW. Last year I did two projects, in 2020 we have about three”, concluded Freire.