ILPC 2027

This paper compares the different geographies of energy work in ‘new’ (wind, solar) versus ‘old’ (coal, gas) energy industries, reflecting on the broader socio-ecological implications of energy transition. Using electricity industry production and workforce data in Australia, I discuss emerging evidence of the spatial re-organisation of workforces associated with energy industry transition, as well as the implications for collective organising if a comprehensive shift away from coal-based stationary energy were to be realised. Workforces of renewable energy industries are much more far flung and diverse compared to established, centralised fossil fuel industries. For instance in Australia, solar installation jobs have grown rapidly. Electrical contractors and staff working for small and medium solar retailers larger in number and more geographically dispersed and mobile than the entire coal-based electricity generation workforce concentrated in regional communities. By considering the spatial dimensions of energy work in transition, the socio-political complications of re-embedding energy markets within ‘safe’ climate limits are revealed. In one sense, a forward march toward renewable energy is a key element to mending the biophysical disruption associated with fossil fuel capital. In another sense, it represents a source of precarious contract work and the dis-embedding for regional coal workers and communities. The new geographies of energy work illustrate that renewable energy transition reconfigures, but does not resolve, contradictions of capitalism.