Tom Hopkinson, managing director of Taylor Hopkinson Associates, here provides his opinion on how the UK is positioned to develop a “blueprint for renewable energy skills”.
“According to industry sources, the UK possesses the natural resources to produce many times the energy it requires domestically through the renewable energy sector. This energy surplus could generate huge revenue streams through exports, if or when a European ‘Super Grid’ has been constructed that can effectively distribute our energy reserves.
“We are also developing a world leading ‘blueprint’ for renewable energy skills, particularly in the fields of research, development and testing. We already lead the way in wave and tidal prototyping and testing at the EMEC Centre in Orkney.
“Other areas include the development of ‘Smart Grid’ technology that makes more efficient use of power outputs. This expertise is also exportable, particularly to countries that are looking to develop and test new renewable energy prototypes.
“Counties such as Finland and Denmark are already buying in UK skills for their wave and tidal operations by employing UK-based research and development experts, as well as using our skills to test their prototypes in Orkney.
“Furthermore, a number of UK based renewable energy companies such as Natural Power, Sgurr Energy and RES have started ‘exporting’ skills by setting up their consultancy operations abroad. This is not only generating jobs, it also provides a self sustained stream of income for further investment and development.
“We are in a strong position to become one of the world’s centres for innovation, and economic growth, if we take advantage of this burgeoning ‘knowledge economy.’ However, despite our pedigree in research and development, we continue to lack skills across many of the operational elements of the sector, particularly manufacturing and engineering. This is further threatened by cuts in the education budget, although there was good news in the spending review with budgets for renewable research ring-fenced.
“However, we continue to rely too heavily on skills from Germany and Denmark for the manufacture of wind turbines. Unless we commit more funding to training, and provide attractive tax incentives for global manufacturers to set up their operations in the UK, we will continue to lag behind our competitors.
“What we need now is commitment as well as clear and concise planning from Westminster with regards to funding and incentive schemes for training and development. The newly proposed ‘Green Investment Bank’ is a step in the right direction, but it is questionable whether the 1 billion being proposed is really enough, and how much of this will be directed towards skills development.
“The government has also earmarked £200 million for upgrading UK ports for offshore wind operations. This will certainly help persuade foreign investors such as Siemens to use the UK as a manufacturing base, helping to develop our skills base further. But once again, is £200 million enough and where exactly will it be directed? Spread it too thinly and we are in danger of producing second rate facilities.
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A short to medium term solution to our skills shortages in manufacturing and engineering, is to encourage more ‘cross skilling’ from related sectors, via bridge training and apprenticeship schemes. This will allow us to take advantage of a pool of useful ‘transferable’ skills from the oil and gas and civil engineering sectors as well as manufacturing industries such as automotive, aerospace and semi conductors.
“At his speech at the Renewable UK conference in Glasgow this month, Alex Salmond introduced the first students from the Wind Technician’s Apprenticeship Scheme at Carnegie College, a Renewable UK joint initiative designed to develop new talent for the industry. This scheme is the first of its kind and must be replicated across the country, and across different skill sets, if we are to meet demand in the future.
“With clear planning, committed funding, and good leadership both from the government and from within the industry, the UK has the potential to become a global hub of renewable energy skills, expertise that will not only secure jobs for our domestic workforce, but provide us with a lucrative exportable resource to a global renewable energy market. We are moving in the right direction, but are we moving quickly enough?”
Taylor Hopkinson
Founded in 2009, Glasgow and London based Taylor Hopkinson Associates provides market-leading, professional recruitment services to the renewable energy, clean technology and sustainability market places at mid to senior management level worldwide.
The company aims to continue to grow its' reputation as a leader in engineering, development and operations recruitment for renewable energy projects in the wind, wave, tidal, biomass, biofuels and clean technology sectors across international markets.
For more information please visit www.taylorhopkinson.com
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