The Clean Energy Council is teaming up with Sydney-founded scaleup MyPass Global to provide digital solutions to renewables transition challenges.
Australia’s Clean Energy Council (CEC) estimates that 32,000 electricians are needed to meet the federal government’s commitment to generate 82 per cent renewable electricity by 2030.
That number is dwarfed by the number of construction workers needed. Industry estimates say 450,000 labourers are needed to construct the energy generation and transmission infrastructure of the renewable future.
Training all of these frontline workers in the new ways of renewables is a conundrum that needs to be solved, and quickly.
Arron Wood is the chief policy and impact officer at the CEC. He says that while the deadline for the shift to renewables may be five years away, recruiting for those positions needs to happen now.
“One of the greatest opportunities and challenges for the clean energy industry over the next five years is that it will need to recruit an additional 40,000 workers,” says Wood.
Once they are on board, the labour force needs to be upskilled to meet the tasks at hand.
“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.”
Now, the CEC, MyPass Global, and the Victorian and Queensland governments have joined forces to provide a contemporary solution to the recruitment and upskilling challenge. The new platform is called the Clean Energy Job Ready.
“From tradespersons from regional areas, adjacent industries, under-represented groups to mature talent with transferrable skills, the Skills Passport and Career Pathways help workers understand the skills needed to pursue careers in the sector,” says Matt Smith, the CEO of MyPass Global founded in Sydney in 2015.
“The better we are at helping workers match their skills to what industry needs, the closer we are to realising Australia’s net zero vision.”
The ‘Jobs Ready’ platform features career pathways information, easily identifiable industry-agreed skills, training, and a ‘digital skills passport.’
The latter enables workers in the renewables sector to upload their qualifications and credentials, and employers to easily cross-check those against role and site-specific requirements. This maintains a safe work environment and operational agility, says Smith.
It is a space Smith knows well, counting Shell, Woodside, and BHP as customers, alongside 1,300 other companies.
“Using MyPass technology to achieve real-time worker competency assurance enables clean energy operators and their suppliers to unlock new levels of productivity and safety needed to keep renewable projects on track,” says Smith.
And that’s good news for the well-being of Australian workers – and for the planet.
“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,” says Wood. “This sector-wide standardisation is key to closing workforce gaps and accelerating our shift to a green economy.”
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