Green Energy Policies Powering the Coalition’s Agenda
The Conservative-Liberal coalition government has been fast off the mark to place green concerns at the top of its policy agenda, as a means to cutting carbon emissions. For the Energy industry, Cameron and Clegg’s Coalition agreement could mean the creation of hundreds of new jobs at a number of levels, from fitting new ‘smart meters’ to engineering wind turbines.
Leading recruitment specialist ATA Energy suggest that these policies could be wide reaching, creating new opportunities for engineering and technical staff which have been effected by cuts and the impact of the recession upon other areas such as manufacturing, rail, construction and civil engineering.
The introduction of smart meters into every home will call for a large number of technicians, engineers and fitters - so too will incentives for people to generate their own electricity through installing solar panels and wind turbines to their homes. Extra energy produced by those with their own energy generation means will be paid for and fed back into the grid through ‘feed-in tariffs’, meaning a rapid uptake is expected once the incentives begin.
Additionally, Tories and Lib Dems both agree upon the need to set up a green investment bank which will ensure that money is available for new wind farms, marine energy, nuclear power stations and the development of clean coal. These new forms of energy production will require staff with engineering and technical expertise to ensure that their rapid growth to meet government targets.
Energy and Climate Change Secretary, Chris Hulme will also be backing an increase in energy production from waste through anaerobic digestion. Although these new forms of energy production are well established, they have not been executed on the scale that will be required under the new government.
Managing Director of ATA Verticals, Gary Hewett, commented, “All these new forms of energy will require a host of skilled workers in order for them to come to fruition. Companies within the sector fully appreciate that, in engineering and technical terms, they need to tap into experience from other sectors and channel this resource into their business in order to grow sustainably.
“A range of new jobs will be there for the taking and it will be the place of recruitment firms such as ATA Energy to fully understand the potential of those with experience within traditional engineering markets, to move them into these emerging sectors.”
“The new government has placed green energy as one of its main concerns and we are bridging the gap until the next generation of engineers trained specifically for work with renewable energies comes through.”
