The government must take “urgent action” to ensure there are enough workers to deliver the UK’s green transition, its own infrastructure watchdog has said.
In a report published this morning (21 February), the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) said skills shortages “pose a significant challenge for the deliverability of the energy transition” from fossil fuels to renewable energy.
The report found that the UK needs “a step change in the approach to the distribution network”, which is key to electrifying heat and transport and can support the decarbonisation of power by connecting new sources of generation.
However, the sector already suffers from a shortage of craft workers, particularly cable jointers and overhead line workers, as well as engineers and transferrable construction roles such as excavators and project managers.
“Given the time it takes to develop these skills, urgent action must be taken to ready the workforce for the energy transition and to meet net zero,” the NIC report stated.
“Short and medium-term solutions – such as retraining and recruiting skilled workers from other countries – can help, but they will not be sufficient to manage the long-term workforce challenge.
“Government needs to review the issues and identify the actions required to address skills challenges. This should inform a wider net-zero skills strategy that sets out how the workforce will be developed and maintained over time.”
The NIC noted that there is competition for skills both within the distribution network sector and other parts of the construction and energy sectors – with network operators, contractors, and equipment manufacturers vying for workers with similar skills.
“One distribution network operator told the commission that they had lost 30 jointers to contractors in their supply chain in just 10 months and another reported that contractors often ask for workers who are trained to work on the distribution network,” it said.
“Beyond this there are common challenges with finding sufficient engineers and other skilled roles, such as data and digital specialists, which are becoming more important.
“General shortages of project managers, and transferable construction skills, such as excavation teams, are affecting distribution networks as well as other sectors.”
