Policy News

Friday 12 March 2010

Renewable energy employers want people with core degrees such as engineering, says DECC

The number of people applying to study renewable energy at higher education level has risen by 39%, with 406 applicants in 2009 compared to 293 the previous year, writes Rachael Meredith.

According to figures released to NewEnergyFocus.com by higher education application service UCAS, the number of renewables specific courses available to students also rose in 2009 to 34, up from 26 in 2008.

Of the 406 applicants, 125 were accepted on one of the available courses.

Casting the net wider, the number of energy engineering courses available remained similar, however, standing at 16 in 2009 compared with 15 in 2008. Both years saw 276 applications received for these courses.

For marine engineering courses, there was a 33% increase in applicants - from 371 in 2008 to 492 in 2009, with 15 courses available.

However, while the rise in renewables specific courses on offer and the number of prospective students applying for them would indicate a boost in interest among young people in the sector, renewable energy experts claim that employers are more interested in core subjects.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) and RenewableUK (formerly BWEA) argue that more traditional qualifications in key subjects such as maths and engineering are more in demand from the industry than tailored subjects.

Skills and education policy officer at RenewableUK, Fruzsina Kemenes, said: "From an employer's perspective, the main problem is that most applicants do not hold the types of qualifications and experience that would be of most value to the business. Having realistic awareness of the core skills needed for the industry is important for candidates to have a shot at getting invited to interview."

She added: "For many roles, employers will value most someone with an undergraduate degree background in a good, core subject area - such as science, engineering or maths - with maybe a renewables specific post graduate qualification."

Chief executive of RenewableUK, Maria McCaffery, further stressed the need for core skills to be developed at the association's wave and tidal conference last week (March 4).

She said: "The dearth of skills is a major concern for us. We want every conceivable intervention that stimulates the skills base to realise the [wave and tidal/renewables in general] opportunity. One in four schools do not have a qualified physics teacher - where are our engineers and technicians going to come from?

"We need cradle to grave education, not just post-graduate. Round 1 is in the water, Round 2 is well on its way and Round 3 will take the whole thing in a five times multiple. 2015, 2016, 2017 is where we're going to be calling on this and our European neighbours will move into this space if we don't."

Also speaking at the event, Andrew Mill, chief executive of NaREC and chair of RenewableUK's marine Strategy Group, said: "It is people in the 11 to 14 age group that we need to be attracting."

ORED

Picking up on this, a spokesman from the Office for Renewable Energy Deployment (ORED) within DECC, claimed that renewable energy was underpinned by core skills in mechanical, civil and electrical engineering - plus a host of other disciplines from environment to planning and legal to finance.

Commenting on what employers want, he said: "Employers, generally, are not looking for graduates from renewable-specific undergraduate courses, they want graduates from the core disciplines. Many universities offer renewable elective modules but these are in core subjects such as mechanical engineering. More specific renewable education in HE is provided through post-graduate training.

He added that looking at the numbers, the biggest challenge over the next decade would be to deliver skills at levels 2 - 4 (craft qualification to Foundation Degree/HNC for which the usual route is an apprenticeship).

According to ORED, the energy sector as a whole looks set to recruit more apprentices than graduates over the next decade."

Ageing sector

According to a report to government by the sector skills organisations responsible for energy in October 2008 - the Cogent Sector Skills council, National Skills Academy for Nuclear,
Energy & Utility Skills and the Engineering Construction Industry Training Board - one of the main reasons for a need to raise the profile of the renewables industry is because the energy sector has an ageing workforce.

The report, a response to the energy white paper 2007, claimed that heavy recruitment of an energy workforce in the 1970s and 80s and reduced intake in the 1990s would lead to a skewed age distribution and subsequently losses to retirement would sharply increase in 2010.

It added that image and overall attractiveness of the industry was crucial to the energy sector's future. Referenced in the report was the Power Sector Skills Strategy Group (PSSSG)'s research report 2008 entitled "Public attitudes to electricity industry and the careers it offers". This showed that, generally, the industry was characterised as being profit focused, highly technical and boring, and only pretending to be green in order to gain a commercial advantage.

Commenting on the issue of an ageing workforce, an ORED spokesman said: "The energy sector must invest heavily in low-carbon technologies while, at the same time, its reliance on a legacy of past recruitment and training is coming to an end as the workforce ages.

"This means that, for the first time in a generation, the energy sector is able to offer jobs, training and rewarding careers to new recruits. We need to see energy as a sector of choice for young people as well as mature workers seeking new challenges."

However, RenewableUK does not agree that the renewables sector has an ageing workforce.

Ms Kemenes said: "Anecdotally, if you look at who works in the renewables industry compared to the energy sector as a whole, the age profile of people working in renewables is relatively youthful.

"Sector attractiveness is not a major challenge. These days, a lot of people are interested in climate change and environmental issues, subsequently they are also often interested in low carbon technologies and the employment opportunities a growth sector has to offer. The image of industry definitely does not have a problem. This is evident for example from the influx of hundreds CVs for some individual vacancies."

The need to attract more young people to the renewables sector and to improve core skills has often been referenced in reports and at industry events. Some key announcements include:

• September 2009: Energy and Utility Skills Council - claimed the immaturity of the low carbon industry, plus an aging workforce in the traditional power generators, could leave the sector without the necessary experience or skills (see this NewEnergyFocus.com story);
• October 2009: RenewableUK held a skills summit whereby business leaders and government figures signed up to a new renewable sector training and skills route map with the aim of training up to 60,000 new technicians and engineers (see this NewEnergyFocus.com story);
• February 2010: BWEA manifesto - acute skills shortage in renewables sector: Action is needed to encourage take-up of science subjects at school, relevant engineering degrees at universities and courses allowing existing workers to develop their skills (see this NewEnergyFocus.com story).

A spokesman from ORED said that a consultation on low-carbon skills will be launched by DECC in March 2010 as part of its development of a strategy for later in the year.