Abstract

Over the last few years, Chile has witnessed an extraordinary energy transformation that has turned the country into one of the largest renewable energy markets in South America. This study examines the impact of renewable energy (RE) technologies from the perspective of job creation opportunities in Chile. For this purpose, the study introduces an analytical assessment model that will be used to assess the direct impacts on employment generated by several policy scenarios aimed at reducing CO2 emissions. The direct impacts on employment in Chile were calculated up to 2026 according to three energy scenarios constructed using the SWITCH-Chile energy model. The empirical results show that RE technologies (solar PV, wind, hydro) can generate more employment per unit of energy than coal and natural gas. According to the scenario projecting the largest reduction of CO2 emissions, which features a dominant participation of renewable energies, up to 20,958 jobs can be created in the Chilean energy sector by 2026. The proposed model can be used to design energy programs as a direct stimulus of employment in the RE industry. Furthermore, policy recommendations are provided based on the results to effectively address changes in employment perspectives for the RE industry. (C) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.