Sub-Sahara Africa Needs Skilled New Energy Builders

Skills gap holding back global decentralised renewable energy sector

Tom Kenning, November 1, 2018 (PV Tech)

“The distributed renewable energy (DRE) sector, necessary in a world with millions of people without power, is being held back by a chronic shortage of skilled workers…Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding South Africa) has just 16,000 people working in renewable energy in a region with 600 million un-electrified people, according to [the Power For All coalition…[Backed by Schneider Electric Foundation and The Rockefeller Foundation, the coalition is working to address the growing shortage of job-ready talent] across the DRE value chain, including manufacturing and assembly, sales, marketing and financing, and installation and services. It’s an especially big problem in remote, rural areas where lack of energy access gaps and joblessness are most severe…

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…[In-market competency shortages are among the] main business challenges…Sub-Saharan Africa will be a key focus of the [coalition because it] has the biggest energy access gaps, the fewest trained workers and the biggest opportunity to use DRE to spur clean energy and new jobs, especially in rural areas…[The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) has] estimated that off-grid renewables for energy access could create at least 4.5 million jobs by 2030…Vocational training will become an essential part of the off-grid and decentralised energy revolution…[The coalition] will conduct an annual energy access jobs survey to understand current employment, job growth trends, and to identify gaps in workforce formation…The first findings will be released in H1 2019…” click here for more

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