Employment in California’s advanced energy industry increased at six times the statewide employment growth rate, according to a report released by the Advanced Energy Economy Institute. Advanced energy employed an estimated 508,000 Californians in 2015, an increase of 18% over 2014 compared to the rate of overall state job growth of 3%.

Employers surveyed expect to add jobs at an 8% rate this year, which would bring advanced energy employment to nearly 550,000.

Other survey results include:

• By far the largest share of advanced energy jobs is in energy efficiency, 63%, or roughly 320,000 workers. But this share is down from 74% in 2014, as some smaller segments of advanced energy employment have grown faster.
• Employment grew fastest in the “advanced grid” segment, which includes smart grid, storage and electric vehicle charging technologies. The advanced grid workforce more than doubled between 2014 and 2015, adding more than 11,000 new jobs.
• The greatest increase in number of jobs came in “advanced generation,” with solar accounting for nearly 80% of jobs in this segment. Advanced generation employment grew 50% over 2014, creating almost 48,000 new jobs in the state. “Advanced transportation,” which includes hybrid, electric and natural gas vehicles, also saw impressive growth, adding just under 7,000 new workers to payrolls, 65% more than in 2014.
• The only advanced energy segment that lost jobs was “advanced fuels,” including biofuels and biomass, which were both impacted by low oil and gasoline prices. Advanced fuel employment fell more than 50% last year, resulting in a loss of about 8,000 jobs.

The survey was conducted by BW Research Partnership and included 800 business doing business in California.