© Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE), Source: Bertelsmann Stiftung 2026
Renewables: record employment figures
The study describes the development of employment figures in various branches of the renewables sector and compares them to the current state of expansion of the relevant technologies.
Last year, the number of people employed in the field of renewables grew by four percentage points compared to the previous record year of 2023. Just like in the preceding year, onshore wind energy was by far the largest employer in the industry, with 131,300 persons working in this field, followed by biomass, solar energy and heat pumps. Offshore wind energy provided work for around 41,000 people in 2025. The focal paper of the Bertelsmann foundation puts the number of people working in the biomass industry at around 96,800. Some 5,500 persons worked in the hydropower industry and another 1,300 in deep geothermal energy. Solar energy provided some 88,200 jobs and heat pumps around 72,200.
Findings of the study complement official statistics
Following a drop in the preceding years, the number of heat pumps installed in 2025 increased to just under the 300,000 mark again. The study looks at this development and its impact on employment figures in the field of renewables. The impact on employment in other industries was not part of the study’s scope. Background information: The official statistics do not contain employment figures in the renewables sector, which is why studies are conducted at regular intervals to estimate these figures, which are interesting to the public.
It is true that the renewables sector with its 436,300 employees accounts for less than one per cent of gainfully active persons in Germany. This puts gross employment in the renewables sector close to the figures for the manufacture of fabricated metal products or for food production.