A booming demand for engineers specializing in renewables

RenewablesCareers.com, the online jobs board for the green energy industry, has seen a significant rise in demand for roles within the sector too, with a 55% year on year rise in the number of visits to the site. In addition, the number of vacancies posted has more than doubled annually since the company’s launch in September 2010, highlighting an upsurge of interest for roles within the sector.

As with the oil and gas industry, engineers remain in short supply worldwide, with over 14,000 job posts made to RenewablesCareers.com in the last 12 months. Other posts in demand include sales, commercial and environmental consultancy roles.

Green energy is arguably one of the fastest growing sectors on the planet, with a recent report stating that in excess of £4trillion ($7trillion) of new capital is to be invested in the renewable energy market between 2011 and 2030.

The extent of success for renewables’ providers, however, is ultimately dependent upon the industry’s ability to ensure the right talent is in place to capitalise on developments taking place around the world. The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) claims that in the UK, achievement of the 2020 renewables target will require £100bn of investment, supporting around 500,000 jobs across the sector.

This is reflected by the European commission, which reports that renewables will account for three million jobs across the EU by 2020.

Rowena Simpson, business manager of RenewablesCareers.com, said: “The renewable energy sector is growing in strength, which is clearly demonstrated by our most recent figures. This is having a knock-on effect on the jobs market, which supports the equivalent of 11,000 full-time jobs in Scotland alone.

“Pockets of new renewable jobs are springing up around the UK, often in areas that have been experiencing a period of economic decline. Siemens, for example, announced plans this month to build a £210 million wind turbine factory at Green Port Hull, creating up to 700 jobs and a further 10,000 in the supply chain to support this development.

“Transferrable skills are proving most valuable, particularly with regard to offshore wind installations located in harsh environments. Other sectors offer a number of crossover skills, from the aerospace and automotive industries to ex-service personnel and physicists with computational fluid dynamics experience.

“As with the oil and gas industry, we continue to see a shortage of engineers. However, many of those who are newly-qualified are increasingly being drawn to a career in the green sector, with a number of exciting opportunities on the table.”