The Clean Energy Council’s director of workplace development, Dr Anita Talberg, is the vision behind sweeping changes to Australia’s vocational training in rooftop solar and storage that are helping shape the nation’s clean energy labour force, writes Gavin Dennett.
The April 2023 issue of EcoGeneration contained a feature on the first major overhaul to Australia’s vocational training in rooftop solar and storage in more than a decade. In the special report, it shone a spotlight on the Australian Industry Skills Committee’s (AISC) major update to vocational training units in renewables, with the aim being to raise standards, address job shortages and better equip the clean energy industry for modern energy demands.
A technical advisory committee, comprising representatives from the Clean Energy Council, Energy Safe Victoria, and industry and training stakeholders, conducted an extensive review and delivered the recommendations to AISC, which led to the sweeping changes of vocational training for rooftop solar and small-scale renewables.
Leading the push for major change was Dr Anita Talberg, the Clean Energy Council’s director of workplace development.
“A lot of these vocational units haven’t been updated in more than 10 years,” she says. “As good as they were – and I don’t want anyone to think we were operating under an unsafe training schedule – everything needs updating.
“We have new technologies, new ways of operating and new pressures with the amount of solar we are rolling out in Australia. We really want these training products to reflect current standards and current safety procedures.”
With the Clean Energy Council’s “Skilling the Energy Transition” report from 2022 outlining the skills shortages that pose a significant risk to Australia’s clean energy transition, the technical advisory committee took a holistic approach to see where the vocational education and training sector could be vastly improved.
“We had all these experts in the room so it really made sense to look at where there were gaps and where we could do better,” says Dr Talberg.
“The reality is we don’t have enough electricians across Australia. We have a dire shortage and it is only going to get worse as we roll out more electric vehicles and more renewable energy so we need to be really efficient with the use of our electricians.
“A lot of the design work that’s done for solar systems can actually be done by electrical engineers. But there hasn’t been a pathway for those electrical engineers to get those vocational education training competencies and qualifications.
“So while we were there, we separated out the design elements and the installation elements; we definitely don’t want anyone who is not an electrician with a full licence doing any installation, but design work can actually be done by different individuals who can then, at certain points of the design, liaise with an electrician on certain systems. We added in that pathway, which is a really important move for the industry.”
Dr Talberg takes great pride in being a significant driver in the remodelling of the rooftop solar and storage sector’s vocational training landscape.
“I only did it because there was a loud and clear voice from the industry that it was needed,” she says. “Fortunately, I am in a position to instigate change, although it is a slow-moving beast. There is still so much work to be done in this space if we are to meet the energy transition challenge. This is just another rung in the ladder.
“We are delighted we’ve been able to do all of this and bring industry along with us. We hope the new model of industry engagement with vocational education and training will be a lot more responsive and agile as we roll out electric vehicles, hydrogen and offshore wind.
“We need a drastic increase in the workforce, such as wind turbine technicians, and we are going to need the vocational education and training sector to be more responsive and aligned with international standards.”
While a progressive vocational education and training structure is an important component to addressing Australia’s clean energy skills shortage, it remains one piece of a much larger puzzle.
“In the ‘Skilling the Energy Transition’ report, the Clean Energy Council called out six high-level recommendations, and one of those is enhancing the vocational education and training sector’s capacity to meet the demands of industry,” says Dr Talberg. “Powering skills organisations is one part, but there are other things that need to happen.
“We are glad the government is running a Clean Energy Capacity Study through Jobs and Skills Australia because that will help anticipate data needs. Another recommendation was establishing a National Energy Transition Authority, which we are seeing the government thinking about now. That will help us with vocational training and education in terms of mapping how we get coal workers into jobs that employ their skills.
“We still need a lot of concerted and deliberate ways in which vocational education and training interacts with industry, particularly around group training organisations. Currently, we are seeing the rollout of Renewable Energy Zones, which means a concentration of projects and the use of local workers so we need to build the Australian skills base in regions.
“Vocational training is just one part of the puzzle; we also did work on degree pathways. We don’t have enough engineers in Australia, and we are not going to meet the energy transition without engineers so we are working with a number of different bodies in that space.”
A strategy to import workers from overseas is also a critical element to addressing the skills shortage, something the Federal Government is being urged to explore in the wake of aggressive subsides abroad to prop up respective clean energy industries.
“Without importing workers, [the energy transition] just doesn’t happen,” says Dr Talberg. “We don’t have enough boots on the ground to do the work. The model we use to do that is important. Do we bring them in and make it as easy as possible to stay in the country? Permanent expansion of the workforce, as opposed to a quick fix.
“The reality is we are competing with the US and Europe, which have put in some very healthy subsidies to support local workers and local manufacturing – why would you come to Australia when you can go to the US and get a much better deal?
“Australia needs a renewable energy super plan to ensure we don’t get left behind. We can’t compete on scale with the US, but we can ensure we protect our market share.”