KDSN RADIO News
Report shows record employment in Iowa’s clean energy sector
A recently released report shows well over 33,000 people were working in Iowa’s clean energy sector in 2024, nearly 3% more than the year before.
E2, a national group that advocates for environmentally-friendly policies, issued the report, which showed the number of jobs in clean energy businesses in Iowa set a record last year. “The 12 Midwest states that we looked at all experienced growth in the clean energy industry several times faster than overall employment growth,” Micaela Preskill, director of state advocacy for E2, said during an online news conference
The report indicates the pace of job creation in Iowa’s clean energy sector last year was six times faster than in the overall job market. The group warns that the clear energy industry is facing headwinds this year, however. Preskill said the “One Big Beautiful Bill” President Trump signed in July phases out federal tax credits for renewable energy projects, and the group estimates 22 billion dollars’ worth of clean energy projects in the United States have already been delayed or canceled this year.
“This comes at a time when we’re in an energy emergency,” Preskill said. “Demand is rising fast, so making it harder to deploy clean energy, which is the cheapest, fastest source of new power, is bad for the economy and, of course, bad for jobs.”
Preskill told reporters that action at the state level is key. “This report shows that clean energy is a bright spot in the Midwest economy,” Preskill said, “and the future of the Midwest’s clean energy economy depends on state leaders acting with urgency.”
The group’s report says Iowa lawmakers should fast-track renewable energy deployment before the federal solar and wind tax credits expire and enact state tax incentives that help fill some of the void when the credits do go away. The group also cites the “rapid rise” in data centers as a key contributor to “unprecedented demand for electricity,” and E2 argues that states like Iowa should prioritize low-cost, clean options like solar and wind power to meet that demand. There are more than two dozen data centers in Iowa now, and Microsoft, Google, Apple, and Meta all plan to build more here.
