Addressing the UK’s Renewable Energy Skills Gap

Synopsis

As the UK accelerates its renewable energy transition, a critical challenge threatens progress: the shortage of skilled professionals within the net zero sector. Recent reports indicate the UK may need up to 500,000 additional workers to meet net zero targets, with a current skills gap of approximately 200,000 workers in the green energy sector.

• Examining the unique talent challenges facing British renewable energy projects and how they differ across green hydrogen, wind, and solar sectors
• Exploring strategies for knowledge transfer between established energy sectors and emerging renewable technologies to leverage the high skills transferability between hydrogen, wind, solar and low carbon heating
• Developing renewable energy skills hubs throughout the UK to support local economies and address the regional distribution of talent
• Discussing how financial stakeholders can support workforce development as part of their renewable energy investments, especially for SMEs and smaller enterprises that lack training resources
• Presenting new approaches to talent acquisition in a competitive market, including current salary benchmarks across renewable sectors, effective retention strategies in high-demand fields, and realistic timeframes for building specialised teams