How to prepare for the opportunities presented by the energy transition

Helping businesses become more sustainable is a key priority for Skillnet Ireland. “We are the national agency for workforce development,” says Dave Flynn, Skillnet Ireland director of business networks. “We support 90,000 workers and almost 25,000 businesses every year. A range of cross-sectoral skills programmes are delivered through our Climate Ready Academy while every one of our 70 Skillnet Business Networks around the country offers sustainability training. We are currently supporting over 6,000 learners and 2,000 companies each year in sustainability related programmes and we expect those numbers to grow significantly in the coming years.”

The Climate Ready Academy was established in 2021 with the aim of supporting businesses to develop the skills and talent required to mitigate the effects of the changing climate and environment. “It supports companies of all sizes in all sectors to become more sustainable,” Flynn says. “The focus is on very practical programmes with impact in mind.”

One of those is the Energy Leaders programme, a level 7 micro-credential course developed with UL and delivered online over 12 weeks that assists businesses and energy professionals with practical sessions on how to reduce energy waste, deliver cost savings, and protect the environment.

“The programmes deliver content in bite sized chunks which make them easy to access while working,” he adds. “We have partnered with the IDA and Enterprise Ireland on the Sustainability Leaders programme. The programme assists businesses to overcome the challenges of transitioning to a sustainable business model and by identifying the key organisational levers that facilitate change.”

Skillnet Ireland championing the EU Year of Skills

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Helping people to acquire the right skills for premium jobs

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How are companies embracing the concept of sustainable leadership?

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Addressing skills needs through collaboration

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Skillnet Ireland is also looking to the future and the skills that will be required to support the energy transition. The needs of the offshore wind sector are addressed in a the research report Building Our Potential – Ireland’s Offshore Wind Skills and Talent Needs, commissioned by GreenTech Skillnet in partnership with Wind Energy Ireland.

“This is an important piece of work,” says Flynn. “Ireland is about to undergo a significant transformation. There are targets to deliver 5GW of offshore wind energy by 2030 and 37GW by 2050. The report looks at the opportunities for Irish businesses to be part of delivering those targets.”

The recommendations outlined in the report include that significant investment in training and skills development will be needed to maximise the economic benefit to Ireland from the development of offshore wind farms.

“A huge amount of work has to go into the skills and training ecosystems,” he says. “Ireland has a lot of expertise in onshore wind but more limited in offshore. The report focuses on the three stages of offshore wind development from the initial project management stage to the manufacturing and operations phases and looks at the different roles and skills required. It profiles over 40 different roles needed to support the offshore wind industry and quantifies how many will be needed depending on the scale of the ambition. It also looks at the training and education needed. New programmes will have to be developed and existing ones adapted for the specific needs of the offshore wind sector.”

Not all of the skills will be available here in Ireland. “There will be opportunities for Irish workers to return home to work in this industry,” Flynn notes. “A lot of the projects will enter development at the same time.”

Among the key recommendations of the report is the establishment of a skills development fund on a public-private partnership basis. This would allow companies to bid for matched funding for appropriate training initiatives. This burden sharing approach would encourage investment in much needed training efforts, the report contends.

Another research report, this time commissioned by the Green Tech Skillnet in collaboration with Energy Storage Ireland (ESI) explores the investment and employment potential in the Irish energy storage sector.

“Onshore and offshore wind and solar energy are intermittent and variable energy sources, and we are going to need energy storage capacity if we are going to leverage their potential,” Flynn points out. “The Charged Horizons – Exploring the Energy Storage Landscape and Workforce Potential in Ireland study explores the mix of technologies that will be needed including battery storage, hydrogen and electrochemical. It also looks at the career paths that will be offered by the sector and the skills that are going to be in most demand. It also points to the potential for international collaboration with countries which are more advanced than Ireland in the area. Both reports are very valuable in pointing the way for companies and the country to adapt and leverage the significant opportunities presented by the energy transition.”