The wind industry has found that recruiting talent is not a breeze amid a shortage, so it has launched a recruitment site to showcase careers.
Stakeholders working in the wind energy sector have been busy over the past few days calling on people to consider embarking on a career in the industry. Their appeals have formed the basis of Ireland’s Wind Energy Trade Show event, which was held in the Sports Ireland Campus in Blanchardstown, Co Dublin over a two-day period this week.
The trade show was an opportunity for Irish wind energy groups to meet with international stakeholders and speak about Ireland’s growing domestic supply of wind energy. The event also saw the launch of an online campaign called WorkInWind.ie, which aims to showcase the opportunities and careers available in the wind energy sector.
Boosting Ireland’s wind energy sector is ostensibly one of the Government’s Climate Action Plan’s main targets, although their tactics have attracted concern from various wind interest groups in the past. There are currently around 5,000 people working in the sector here – a number that needs to at least double if Ireland is to have enough people to realise its climate targets. Groups like Wind Energy Ireland, an organisation that campaigns for renewable energy through wind, are hoping that young people, in particular, will heed the call for more workers to get into the renewable energy space.
‘Broad range of careers’
“We know that young people are passionate about climate action and there is a much greater emphasis on it in the curriculum with the new Leaving Cert course on Climate Action and Sustainable Development. WorkInWind.ie will inspire and empower this generation of young people to play their role in Ireland’s renewable future, by highlighting clear paths to a broad range of careers in the renewable energy sector,” said Lisa-Anne Crookes, communications manager with Wind Energy Ireland.
The new Work in Wind platform highlights job opportunities in the wind sector under several different subheadings such as planning and sustainability, engineering and tech, policy, finance and business and communications.
It also profiles real-life case studies of people working in the industry and identifies career pathways through training programmes and third-level courses.
One of the people who shared their experience of working in the wind sector was Cavan-based wind turbine technician, Tanya O’Reilly. “I’ve worked on wind farms all over Ireland, including one only five minutes from my home in Cavan. But I’ve also got to travel for work to Sweden, England, Scotland and Wales,” she said, adding “Even if you don’t have a background or knowledge in the renewables area, don’t restrict yourself. If you are willing to work and be open-minded to learning new skills, then jump at the chance.”
Eoin McPartland, who works as an engineer and an offshore manager with Energia said that now is a “really exciting time to be working in the energy sector as an engineer, helping to design and develop solutions to one of the greatest challenges of our time, the climate crisis.”
Environmental advisor with SSE Renewables, Carmel Brennan, agreed with McPartland. “It’s a great time to join the industry in any role,” she said. “I work with a wonderful, diverse and talented group of people and I really enjoy getting out to our wind farm sites, many of which are in remote and beautiful parts of the island.”
Energy storage sector’s similar situation
The wind energy sector is not the only branch of the wider renewables sector to offer a multitude of opportunities to workers. A recent report by Energy Storage Ireland and Green Tech Skillnet estimated that the energy storage industry could create between 2,000 to 5,000 new jobs by 2035. This estimate included both direct and indirect forms of employment. The report was published around the same time Energy Storage Ireland held its annual conference in Croke Park in Dublin last month. Like the wind energy event, they also warned of the potential fallout if Ireland doesn’t keep building up its talent pipeline in the energy storage sector.
Bobby Smith, head of Energy Storage Ireland, said: “Energy storage has a key role in helping Ireland reduce carbon emissions and provide cleaner, cheaper energy to Irish consumers. Currently, 40pc of our electricity comes from renewable sources but we need to get this to 100pc by 2035.”
He said that while “Energy storage will play a key role in enabling this shift to renewables” for this to happen, a “significant uplift in investment in energy storage is needed”.
“Without energy storage, we will waste a lot of renewable energy and it will make it harder to phase out fossil fuels. For example, in 2020 Ireland had to turn down enough wind energy to power the city of Galway twice over for the year because our grid wasn’t strong enough to carry the power or because there was not enough demand for this energy during very windy periods. With energy storage we could soak up this renewable energy and use it at less windy times or when the grid can accommodate it.”
Smith concluded that Ireland needs to increase its energy storage capabilities and to do this, it needs to ensure the right training and development programmes are in place to enable this.
10 things you need to know direct to your inbox every weekday. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic’s digest of essential sci-tech news.
