A raft of skills is required to support Ireland’s energy transition. These include key technical skills relating to renewable energy technologies such as wind and solar, as well as energy storage systems.
But it’s not only technology skills that will be required. Expertise will be needed in everything from project management to law, IT and data science. People will be needed to develop policy, manage investor relations and public engagement, and to help drive change within organisations.
The good news is that there is a growing array of green skills courses available to help.
Skillnets
One of the best ways to upskill an existing workforce is to join a Skillnet. These provide highly tailored, industry led, in-work training and development programmes.
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Skillnets are clustered, either geographically or by industry; by pooling training costs employers get more bang for their buck.
The Green Tech Skillnet supports businesses in the renewable energy and green technology sectors by providing subsidised learning and development programmes. These are designed to facilitate thought leaders within the renewables sector, while contributing to Ireland’s decarbonisation and energy transition.
By collaborating with industry the network designs, develops and delivers responsive, bespoke and flexible upskilling courses to address the ongoing needs of businesses. It is open to private enterprises in the renewable energy and green technology sector based in the Republic of Ireland.
SEAI
The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland is perhaps best known to consumers as a provider of grants to support the roll-out of domestic renewable energy solutions and deep home retrofits. But through its Energy Academy it also provides high-quality, on-demand energy efficiency training for businesses.
It provides opportunities to learn about some of the business strategies required to help firms plan for sustainability and find out more about what it takes to lead sustainable change within a business.
It’s an efficient way for changemakers within organisations to learn more about the role that energy plays in climate change, what net zero means, and how their business can best respond to the transition journey ahead.
Those who complete an Energy Academy course receive an SEAI certificate, demonstrating their commitment to reducing their business’s energy use and carbon impact, with a range of modules available, from decarbonisation for business to office energy efficiency, to behavioural change.
Solas
The state agency for further education and training (FET) has a range of green skills options. Its Green Skills 2030 report, published in October, was the first national further education and training strategy for the green transition and aims to shape the response and contribution of the sector towards meeting the State’s climate action targets.
Developed by Solas in partnership with KPMG, and in consultation with the 16 Education and Training Boards, public bodies, government departments, and key industry stakeholders, the strategy examines crucial sectors including construction, agriculture, transport, energy, hospitality and finance, identifies critical skills gaps and presents strategic and sector specific recommendations.
It outlines ways in which FET can equip learners with the skills required to build a workforce that supports the transition to a green economy.
For those looking to upskill, it has a range of green skills courses available at fetchcourses.ie which provide training and development in the latest green technologies to support critical sectors going through transformational change to meet the requirements of the green economy, including agriculture, construction and transport.
It also offers a Sustainability for Beginners programme, designed to develop understanding of climate change and develop behaviours to reduce environmental impact, which is available online in four languages.
It provides free short courses online in green skills topics such as biodiversity, water management and energy conservation, through eCollege.
In addition, a range of micro-qualifications to upskill and reskill in the green economy are available through its Skills to Compete and Skills to Advance initiatives.
Springboard+
Finally, Springboard+ is a Government initiative offering free and heavily subsidised courses at certificate, degree and master’s level leading to qualifications in areas where there are employment opportunities in the economy, including green skills.
Currently these include everything from a postgraduate certificate in data analytics for offshore wind energy management at ATU Donegal to one in climate action, energy and public policy from DCU.
