Solar tax credits boost SunPower

Despite all the doom and gloom about the current economic climate, there could be a boom in jobs in the clean tech and renewable energy sector.

At the Reuters Global Environment Summit solar power company SunPower revealed it will add jobs to its US operations due to the extension in solar power tax credits passed by the US government last week.

SunPower CEO Tom Werner told Reuters the expansion will add hundreds of positions over the next 18 months to the company’s US workforce of about 3,000.

SunPower will be adding to its commercial sales division and its dealer support staff, including supply chain management. It also plans to add jobs in states with generous solar subsidies such as California, New Jersey and Colorado.

This comes after the US government extended billions of dollars in tax credits for solar and other renewable energy sources in its financial bailout plan, giving businesses a 30 per cent tax credit to offset the development costs of solar and other clean energy projects and eliminated a cap on tax credits for residential systems.