Currently in the UK there is a renewable energy sector skills shortage that is initially being fed from staff coming from other nations into the UK as we do not yet have enough people available to take on the jobs.
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For micro-renewables there are increasingly more and more training and development options. the main thing is to look for recommended providers as like any other emerging sector there are training providers who pop up who are looking to make a quick buck but not provide you with training that is value for money or even at a high enough standard for the sector.
It would be great to hear about positive learning experiences that you have had to help other people find the best training providers out there. It may also be helpful if you know of any providers who you would just recommend that we all stay away from, but hopefully we can identify the best instead of the worst performing training providers.
One of the first renewable energy training courses I had taken was through On Site Generation which was an low entry course for micro renewable energy (Renewable Energy Design Options), who are based in fife in Scotland. The training was half funded through the Low Carbon Skills Fund which is a government initiative to help take on part of the cost related to increasing your skills for an emerging Low Carbon Economy.
As part of the development I also took a City & Guilds training course through The Wise Group who are a social enterprise based at Edinburgh Road in Glasgow in Scotland. This was an ‘Energy Awareness’ course which has been popular with a lot of the Climate Challenge Fund supported projects in Scotland.
There are so many training options out there, from basic courses similar to the ones mentioned above to accredited and certified courses such as an MCS Solar PV (Photovoltaic) installation course which allows an installer to help people access the Feed in Tariff (FIT) for Micro Generation.
There is a skills gap at the higher end of larger scale renewable energy in roles such as project management of wind farm installations which will most likely be filled from other disciplines such as oil and gas workforce moving to offshore wind and tidal projects and construction engineers and project managers moving to onshore wind farm development.
More colleges and universities are getting there act together by providing undergraduate and postgraduate opportunities for people to enter the green sectors, however there is still opportunity for further education establishments to get in on the act.