56 ENERGYIN VIEW
ENERGISING THE SKILLS LANDSCAPE
Building the right relationships between skills providers and businesses will be vital for the future development of the energy sector in Lancashire.
Katherine Higgins, business development team manager Blackpool and The Fylde College, says “collaboration” is key to ensure courses meet the ever-changing needs of companies.
She says: “We need to ensure we are close to the business to make sure we’re delivering that return on investment and what the businesses need. The curriculum should be shaped by business.”
A jobs fair hosted by the college in February saw 800 people pass through its doors with many heading for the National Skills Academy for Nuclear stand. Katherine says: “There was a real interest, which is really positive.”
She says that it is important to make sure students can see the career pipeline that is available to them in the sector and where the opportunities lie.
We’ve got the opportunity to create
a flexible curriculum and embed the skills that businesses need. It’s all about that collaboration
Building courses which give students “cross skills” is another area she believes will help in creating the workforce needed in the future.
And she adds: “We’ve got the opportunity to create a flexible curriculum and embed the skills that businesses need. It’s all about that collaboration.”
David Heap is director of Read based Vital Heating Solutions, specialists in bespoke commercial heating, industrial plumbing and mechanical engineering.
Frontline skills remain a major challenge for the business and it is looking to build its own training centre in a bid to ease the problem.
David says: “The training when it comes to areas like our designers is fantastic.
“However, when it comes to our frontline engineers, those on the tools, that is where we are struggling. There is a big skills shortage.
“When I trained as an engineer it gave me the skills to build a business.
“We’ve got staff from Albania, from Portugal, and the training they have when they came to us just seemed to be such a higher standard than the UK. We’re having to branch out. We work with a university in Krakow in Poland.”
Steve Wood, chief executive Fylde Coast Energy, says the new nuclear decommissioning projects coming on stream, the move towards Small Modular Reactors and the development of AI Data Centres are bringing new skills, however he adds: “We still definitely need those traditional engineering skills.
“We are going to home grow our people, not just with traditional skills but with the digital skills we are also going to need.”
Ged Ennis, founder and director Low Carbon Energy Co, says the speed and scale of change that is happening in the sector is a challenge when it comes to skills and training.
He also points to the large number of engineers needed to meet UK heat pump installation targets.
Steve Marshall of EDF Energy adds: “When the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station project started construction they could have taken every single certified welder in the country to satisfy the requirement they had. That’s hard to get your head around and that is just one discipline.
“If you want to get involved in significant engineering projects there is nothing better than a sound engineering foundation and you can get that locally.”
About us
Greenarc’s purpose is to ‘ease the world’s journey to clean energy’. We do this by helping organisations understand their carbon output, build a strategy to reduce and then procure the technologies and services that make the biggest impact – all to meet a business’s internal and external decarbonisation pressures and achieve its overall goals.
What makes Lancashire a great place to do business for the energy sector?
Lancashire is an area steeped in manufacturing history. Some of the largest and globally recognised products continue to be produced in this great county, and with heavy industry comes a heavy energy requirement and the need for support and guidance with the low carbon energy transition. The creative and entrepreneurial mindset of Lancashire’s citizens are exactly who we want as part of our organisation.
What does the future hold for energy sector in Lancashire?
Decarbonisation isn’t going away, it’s part of every organisation’s destiny, it will affect all industries and ultimately all parts of life. Businesses are just starting to realise that there isn’t a magic bullet to decarbonise. Everyone’s journey will be unique. What works for one organisation won’t work for another, this is why it is so important to have a strategy. No business should start a new financial year without a robust financial business budget and forecast, the same is with decarbonisation. A plan is needed to start the journey and here at Greenarc we’re ready to support.
greenarc.com
Chris Bingham Chairman and CEO
David Heap Katherine Higgins
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