The Clean Energy Council (CEC), Australia’s peak body for the renewable energy industry, recently launched a ‘Clean Energy, Job Ready’ program.
It features training, career pathways and a digital skills passport to attract a greater number of tradies, apprentices and job-seekers moving into the clean energy industry.
The program, designed to help job seekers primarily in Victoria and Queensland, will help them to attain the relevant skills needed to work and also support their transition between large-scale wind, solar and storage projects.
The CEC says the initiative, based on a year of consultation with the sector, will help employers mobilise a safe, competent and qualified trade workforce.
The program is funded by the Victorian Government’s Workforce Training and Innovation Fund and developed in partnership with TAFE Gippsland and Federation University, and by the Queensland Government in partnership with Energy Skills Queensland.
It delivers a training matrix and a suite of digital tools to help employers streamline workforce compliance.
The training matrix includes a guide for qualifications, licences and safety training needed for trade roles to work at clean energy projects.
The program also delivers a skills passport, which is a digital platform provided by MyPass for workers to upload their qualifications and credentials for validation based on role-specific and site-specific requirements.
The program offers a new online platform for workers, students, apprentices and those looking to make a career change to gain the training they need to access the sector.
Need for growing the clean energy sector workforce
Clean Energy Council chief policy and impact officer Arron Wood says over the next five years, the industry will need to recruit an additional 40,000 workers to meet the government’s renewable energy targets.
He adds that the program comes at a time when the government has committed to delivering an 82 percent renewable energy target by 2030 – a goal that is set to significantly scale the demand for skilled workers.
“The lack of standardisation in training and skills requirements across employers has traditionally posed a challenge for the industry and creates confusion for workers and students trying to understand the pre-requisites to be ready for clean energy jobs,” Wood says.
“The ‘Clean Energy, Job Ready’ program is the result of our close collaboration with industry in Victoria and Queensland to define a common, consistent set of skills and training requirements for clean energy projects. This sector-wide standardisation is key to closing workforce gaps and accelerating our shift to a green economy.”
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