Skills development needed for regional Australia to benefit from energy sector boom

According to the industry skills council for the electrical, communications and energy sectors - EE-Oz Training Standards - regional communities stand to be the big winners in the shift to renewable energy sources, as long as skills shortages and inadequate training infrastructure are properly addressed.

Recently, more than 250 representatives from employers, training providers, industry groups, unions and government gathered at the two-day EE-Oz Training Standards annual conference that focused on both the skills gaps in growth sectors and how to develop a national approach to addressing them.

EE-Oz Training Standards is a not-for-profit industry training and skills standards and advisory organisation. It serves and works in partnership with Australia’s ElectroComms and energy utilities industries.

“Australia has the potential to generate vast amounts of renewable energy from an abundance of natural resources distributed around the country, with regional communities standing to benefit most from the shift,” said EE-Oz Chief Executive Officer Bob Taylor. “To make this happen, we need to ensure the skills are available in regional communities to construct and maintain renewable installations. However, this is currently hampered by insufficient students to warrant the establishment of permanent training facilities in many regional areas.

“The conference sought to bring together all the key players to look at how we can overcome this problem, which will require a mix of solutions, such as providing incentives for qualified technicians to move to regional communities and for blended learning solutions for apprentices and trainees.

“Broad industry consultations must begin in earnest as soon as possible, which is why we have brought together leading experts from Australia and internationally to look at how we best develop our workforce to maximise productivity and make sure regional Australians benefit from this fast-approaching boom.”