Solar Maintenance Jobs Grow but Skills Gap Persists

Solar operations and maintenance postings nearly doubled their share of listings while employers struggle to find qualified workers.

Updated on Nov. 9, 2026 in Job Search

Solar Maintenance Jobs Grow but Skills Gap Persists

Live Poll

Do you think it is getting easier or harder to find skilled trade jobs today?

Solar operations and maintenance postings rose from 5.8% of archived solar job listings between 2020 and 2022 to 12.2% between 2024 and 2026, according to an analysis by Solar Roles of 387 posting groups. Employers in the subsector rarely require formal electrician licenses despite requesting electrical skills.

Why it matters

The growing share of maintenance roles signals rising demand for workers who can keep solar installations running. The mismatch between requested electrical skills and rare license requirements points to a hiring pipeline that depends on training and experience rather than credentials.

Electrical skills appear in 84% of operations and maintenance descriptions, yet only 9% make an electrician license a strict condition of employment, and 23% of employers report severe difficulty finding qualified workers. The analysis does not identify the cause of the gap between requested skills and licensing requirements.

The players

Solar Roles

Solar Roles is a job board focused on recruitment in the solar energy industry, which produced the analysis of posting data.

The details

Solar Roles examined posting-text groups drawn from an archive of 4,525 U.S. solar job listings captured between 2020 and 2026. Of the 387 operations and maintenance posting groups, 68% require lock-out/tag-out safety procedures, 63% specify digital tools and software, and 64% require travel.

2020 to 2022: Operations and maintenance postings made up 5.8% of solar listings.
2024: Operations and maintenance was the only solar subsector where hiring got harder.
2024 to 2026: The share of operations and maintenance postings rose to 12.2%.

Market Landscape

The shift toward maintenance roles tracks the expansion of installed solar capacity, which creates ongoing service work after construction. Solar Roles' archive shows the subsector's share of listings more than doubling across the 2020 to 2026 period.

Job seekers without an electrician license can still qualify for solar maintenance roles, since most postings do not require one. Candidates should emphasize electrical skills, safety training, and inverter or digital-tool experience, which appear frequently in listings.

The takeaway

Solar maintenance hiring rewards demonstrated electrical and safety skills more than formal credentials. Candidates who document hands-on experience with inverters and lock-out/tag-out procedures are positioned for openings that many employers struggle to fill.