In the Bureau of Labor Statistics 2024–2034 employment projections, the two fastest-growing occupations in the entire American economy are wind turbine service technicians and solar photovoltaic installers. Neither requires a bachelor's degree. For anyone weighing a STEM career against the cost and time of a four-year program, that is a genuinely important data point — and it comes with a caveat large enough that acting on the headline alone would be a mistake.
The Numbers, Precisely
| Wind turbine service technicians | Solar photovoltaic installers | |
|---|---|---|
| Projected growth, 2024–2034 | 49.9% | 42.1% |
| Jobs added over the decade | About 6,800 | About 12,000 |
| Average annual openings | About 2,300 | About 4,100 |
| Median annual wage, May 2024 | $62,580 | $51,860 |
| Typical entry-level education | Postsecondary — commonly an associate degree or a technical certificate in wind energy or electrical technology | High school diploma, with many entrants taking technical school or community college coursework |
| Growth driver | Maintenance and repair of turbines already installed | Installation of new photovoltaic capacity |
Note the second and third rows, because they are the ones that get dropped in most coverage. A 49.9 percent growth rate on a small base is still a small number of jobs. Roughly 6,800 wind turbine technician positions will be added over ten years nationally — fewer than a single large employer adds in a good year in other fields. The annual-openings figures, which include replacement of workers who leave the occupation and are the more useful number for someone entering, are about 2,300 and 4,100 respectively.
"Fastest growing" and "most hiring" are different measurements, and conflating them is how a reader ends up training for an occupation with excellent percentage growth and very few actual doors. These are real, well-paid, durable careers. They are not a mass-employment answer to the entry-level job market.
The Two Jobs Are Less Alike Than the Pairing Suggests
They get reported together because they sit at the top of the same list, but they are different occupations with different entry paths, different economics, and different risk profiles.
Wind turbine service technicians — often called windtechs — maintain and repair turbines, which means climbing them. The work is at height, frequently in remote locations, on equipment carrying serious electrical and mechanical hazards, and it involves troubleshooting hydraulic, mechanical, and electrical systems rather than repetitive installation. That difficulty is priced in: the median wage of $62,580 sits well above the solar figure and above the median for all occupations. The entry bar is correspondingly higher, typically a two-year technical program in wind energy technology or electrical technology followed by extended on-the-job training, often on a specific manufacturer's platform.
The demand driver is worth understanding, because it is unusually stable. The projected growth comes from maintaining turbines that are already standing, not from building new ones. A turbine installed today requires servicing for its operating life regardless of what happens to new-construction policy. That decouples the occupation from year-to-year swings in installation activity to a degree that few construction-adjacent jobs enjoy.
Solar photovoltaic installers face the opposite structure. The growth driver is installation of new capacity, which means the occupation is tied directly to how much new solar gets built. That is more exposed to tax credit policy, interest rates, and utility interconnection rules than turbine maintenance is. The entry bar is lower — a high school diploma is the typical requirement, with employers frequently providing training on the job — and the median wage of $51,860 reflects that shorter runway. Solar adds nearly twice as many jobs as wind over the decade, with almost twice the annual openings, so it is the more accessible of the two on volume as well as on entry requirements.
What Training Actually Costs and Where the Aid Is
This is where the two occupations connect to a change that took effect this year. Workforce Pell Grants became available on July 1, 2026 for short-term programs — 8 to fewer than 15 weeks, 150 to fewer than 600 clock hours — delivered by institutions participating in federal student aid, and each state's list of qualifying occupations is set by its governor.
Those state lists have a consistent shape. Across tracked jurisdictions they concentrate heavily on healthcare, the skilled trades, construction, and transportation, and much less on software and information technology occupations. Energy technician roles sit squarely in the favored category. So a prospective solar installer or windtech is, in several states, better positioned to draw federal short-term aid than a prospective software developer is — a reversal of the usual assumption about which STEM path the system supports. WIGSAT's state-by-state Workforce Pell tracker covers how to check your own state's occupations list, and the cost analysis explains why the prorated award goes much further against a community college tuition than a private program's.
The practical caution: a two-year associate degree in wind energy technology is longer than 15 weeks and therefore falls outside Workforce Pell entirely. Traditional Pell, state aid, and institutional aid are the relevant paths there. Shorter certificate programs — safety and rescue certification, basic electrical, entry solar installation coursework — are the ones that can fit the short-term window.
Deciding Whether Either Fits
Four questions do most of the work.
- Where are the jobs relative to where you are? This matters more here than in almost any other STEM field. Wind capacity is geographically concentrated, and turbine maintenance happens where the turbines are. Solar is more distributed but still uneven by state policy. An occupation with 2,300 annual openings nationally may have very few in your metropolitan area, and relocation is often the real prerequisite rather than the training.
- Are you comfortable with the physical conditions? Climbing a turbine in weather, or spending days on residential rooftops, is not incidental to these jobs — it is the job. This is a screening question, not a preference, and it is better answered before enrollment than after.
- Which entry cost matches your situation? Solar's high-school-diploma entry point means you can begin earning while learning. Wind's two-year requirement means a longer runway to a higher wage. Neither is better in the abstract; they suit different circumstances.
- What does the path look like in ten years? Both occupations have progression into lead technician, site supervisor, and operations roles, and both build transferable electrical and mechanical diagnostic skill. The honest answer is that these are entry points to an industry, not terminal jobs — which is the same thing that is true of a junior developer role, and worth weighing on the same terms.
For readers comparing these against the degree-track STEM careers, WIGSAT's guide to AI and machine learning careers covers the other end of the spectrum — higher ceiling, higher entry requirements, and a considerably less certain entry-level market.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the fastest-growing STEM careers that do not need a bachelor's degree?
In the BLS 2024–2034 projections, wind turbine service technicians (49.9 percent growth) and solar photovoltaic installers (42.1 percent) are the fastest-growing occupations in the economy, and neither typically requires a four-year degree. Solar installation generally requires a high school diploma; wind turbine service typically requires an associate degree or a technical certificate.
How much do wind turbine technicians and solar installers earn?
The median annual wage in May 2024 was $62,580 for wind turbine service technicians and $51,860 for solar photovoltaic installers. Wages vary substantially by region, employer, and whether the role involves travel or work at height.
If growth is that high, are there lots of openings?
Not in absolute terms. The high percentages sit on small bases: about 6,800 wind turbine technician jobs and about 12,000 solar installer jobs added over the whole decade, with roughly 2,300 and 4,100 average annual openings respectively. These are strong occupations with limited volume, not a large-scale hiring channel.
How long does training take?
For solar installation, entry is possible with a high school diploma and employer-provided training, with many entrants adding a short technical school or community college course. For wind turbine service, the common path is a two-year technical program in wind energy or electrical technology, followed by extended on-the-job training on specific equipment.
Can I use Workforce Pell for this training?
Possibly, for short certificate programs. Workforce Pell covers programs of 8 to fewer than 15 weeks at institutions participating in federal student aid, where the occupation appears on the state's governor-approved list — and energy technician roles are the kind of occupation those lists tend to include. A two-year associate degree is too long to qualify and falls under traditional aid instead.
Is solar installation work stable given policy changes?
Solar installation demand tracks new construction, which makes it more sensitive to tax credit policy, financing costs, and interconnection rules than wind turbine maintenance, whose demand comes from servicing equipment already in the ground. If policy exposure concerns you, that difference is the single most important distinction between the two occupations.
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