SKILLS GAP AN INSIGHT


EXISTING PROVISION There is an Skills Sector Council (SSC) for Energy and Utilities, however they only cover Gas and Waste, the national Skills Academy for Environmental Technologies run courses in Heat Pumps and Solar energy only, nothing for wave, tidal or grid- based wind —they do “Micro-Wind”, ie tiny domestic but that is all.


THE PROBLEM To remain insulated against imported energy and fuel costs we need to provide electricity within our own shores, this reinforces the need for renewable energy and ergo personnel trained to provide such schemes — we have experienced extreme difficulty in recruiting suitable personnel and am sure that we are not alone in this. The combined situation of being fully exposed to foreign pricing and time delays in building new plant is not a good situation, if we then factor in the lack of home-grown knowledge to be able to develop a more rapid, renewable energy response then we have a recipe for disaster.


An article in the May 2012 edition of Quest magazine (Magazine aimed at the re-learning of personnel leaving the armed forces) confirms that the CIPD have acknowledged an “employment gap” and states that by 2020, 36% of the working population will be over 50. Whilst we must welcome experience it reinforces the need for training courses to be designed for Pre GCSE students.


SUGGESTED SOLUTION To avoid this we have been actively working on the development of a multi- agency approach to address the issue, negotiations are under way with the Sector Skills Council (SSC) with the ultimate goal to develop a SSC Skills Academy, based in our offices in Spalding, Lincolnshire specifically addressing potential knowledge shortages for the renewables industry.


We are currently in discussions with John Hayes MP (Minister for lifelong learning) who has been extremely supportive, in addition we are developing accredited qualifications with a nationally known university (training will be split between our offices, field work and on their campus).


SCHOOLS ACT Under the Schools Act a single company cannot run such courses, as such it needs a combined approach from developers, CPRE, RSPB and so on to create a sensible course structure and train teachers accordingly. From this we would need to develop 6th form and SSC based braining for students who wish to specialise in specific fields.


JOINT APPROACH


Fellow developers must understand that such an approach has a significant lead-in time, there is no quick-fix solution. What is required is a joint approach and we would be delighted to champion such an incentive to ensure we all have access to suitably trained individuals coming from a robust infrastructure of specialist courses.


Only then will we be able to confidently recruit personnel with the required knowledge.


GROWING SKILLS GAP


There is a well documented skills gap in the wind energy sector. Last year, a £1.2 million training initiative was launched between Government and the renewables industry to tackle the shortage of skills in our sector.


FACTS AND FUGURES The number of people working in the UK’s offshore sector alone has grown from 700 people in 2007 to circa 3,200 in 2011 and across Europe, more than half a million people will be working for the wind power industry in Europe by 2020.


RES GROUP INVESTMENT The wind energy industry has a major role to play in the economic recovery of the


UK economy and RES is playing its part in investing in training and development programmes to attract new people to our organisation and retain existing talent.


ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING One of the areas most affected by the skills gap is electrical engineering. As part of the RES Group graduate scheme which has been running since 2009, we have taken on two graduates this year. There is no scarcity of graduate electrical engineering candidates however what RES and the industry needs most at this time is experienced engineers. Currently, it can take between seven and eight months to fill a role requiring an experienced engineer.


FINDING INDUSTRY SPECIFIC INFORMATION What both graduates and experienced candidates say is that it is difficult to find one place to look for information regarding career opportunities within the renewables industry. While there are a number of initiatives in place where companies are coming together to highlight available roles, there is still a need in the industry and specific to the wind energy sector for one source of information to be available as careers guide for multi- experienced job seekers.


RES Group www.res-group.com e = See enhanced entry online 16 www.windenergynetwork.co.uk


THE COSTS To develop a SSC takes not just time but personnel and office resources, we have the facilities and office capacity within our Spalding base to be able to accommodate all staff required to develop the SSC, there will be costs involved in such administration and we must all acknowledge that the resultant knowledge pool will only be beneficial post training.


I acknowledge this delay and that resources may have been allocated elsewhere.


INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY The fact is that your future business needs will be the driver for all course development and as such it is hoped that you will see this as a potential secondment opportunity. Whatever your level of input I urge fellow developers to acknowledge this as an investment opportunity, not just to providing training for a new generation of personnel who will greatly enhance future business but also an opportunity to demonstrate our industry’s commitment for social development.


AN INVITATION Dear Developer / Interested party – You are cordially invited to work with us to develop a sensible approach to the issue of training for Pre – GCSE students, and to assist in developing a sensible structure of courses so that the potential of a skills gap can be addressed.


Keith Brooks Prowind (UK) Ltd www.prowind.co.uk


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100