Clean energy manufacturers have welcomed the UK Government’s new Clean Energy Jobs Plan, calling it a critical step towards building a skilled workforce capable of supporting the rapid expansion of the green economy.
BEAMA, the trade association representing manufacturers of energy infrastructure and systems, said the plan provides the ambition, support, and data needed to give the supply chain confidence in meeting long-term skills requirements.
Yselkla Farmer, Chief Executive of BEAMA, said the industry has the potential for substantial growth as the UK accelerates the electrification of its energy system, but warned that skills shortages remain a major constraint on investment.
“The biggest limiting factor for investment today is the availability of a skilled workforce, and therefore we welcome the focus on job creation for our supply chain,” Farmer said. “For network equipment manufacturing alone, our average member expects to double employment by 2035. This plan sets the foundations we need to help that statistic rise further.”
She added that BEAMA members “offer good jobs, in an industry rooted in local communities across the UK”, and that long-term policy certainty would be essential to sustain investment.
To coincide with the launch of the plan, BEAMA released a short video featuring its members’ manufacturing facilities, designed to showcase the variety of roles available within the sector and attract new entrants.
Through its quarterly Market Pulse reports, BEAMA has long advised Government on workforce and skills challenges across the energy transition supply chain. The association said the new plan’s clarity on ambition and data provision should support members’ hiring plans.
Electrical product manufacturing currently employs around 90,000 people in the UK and generates an annual turnover of roughly £14bn. BEAMA said it would use the Clean Energy Jobs Plan as a platform to improve data on manufacturing-specific roles and strengthen the domestic supply chain beyond 2030.
Several BEAMA members also welcomed the plan, highlighting the real-world impact of growth in clean energy employment.
In Belper, Derbyshire, Simon Melbourne of Vaillant Group UK said the evolution of renewable heating over the past two decades had “created job stability and new opportunities for experienced and aspiring engineers”.
At Myenergi in Lincolnshire, Lydia Battersby said she joined the firm to “be part of something that’s not just innovative, but meaningful”, adding that “working in clean energy means every day I’m helping build a better future”.
Chris Van Der Schyff, Principal Service Engineer at Hitachi Energy in Staffordshire, said his career had allowed him to “work on some of the UK’s most important power infrastructure”, including hydropower projects in Snowdonia.
BEAMA is also collaborating with the Energy Networks Association and Government to develop an Electricity Networks Sector Growth Plan, aimed at improving understanding of the industry’s workforce requirements.
