Besides helping to combat climate change, another benefit of renewable energy technology is that solar, wind and other “alternative” energy production processes also provide a major boost to the job market. In the US and Europe, the sector is growing by the hour, and has proven almost impervious to the vicissitudes of the international economy, continuing to create jobs faster than other businesses. For South Africa, renewable energy offers a dual promise: ensuring energy security (which means ending off-loading) and creating new jobs in a country with high levels of unemployment. Eskom’s collaboration with South African…
Besides helping to combat climate change, another benefit of renewable energy technology is that solar, wind and other “alternative” energy production processes also provide a major boost to the job market.
In the US and Europe, the sector is growing by the hour, and has proven almost impervious to the vicissitudes of the international economy, continuing to create jobs faster than other businesses.
For South Africa, renewable energy offers a dual promise: ensuring energy security (which means ending off-loading) and creating new jobs in a country with high levels of unemployment.
Eskom cooperation with the South African Renewable Energy Technology Center (Saretec) to develop artisan skills in renewable energy in South Africa is therefore a project with huge potential.
Energy expert Anton Eberhard said Saretec is a renewable energy training initiative at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology that has focused on skills development over the years.
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He said that in moving away from coal-fired power stations, Eskom was looking for a “just transition” that included initiatives to reskill coal workers, positioning them to participate in renewable energy – the future.
Eskom’s commitment to retraining workers to participate in this new technology sector comes in parallel with a boom in the private renewable energy sector following significant growth as a result of the recent easing of government restrictions on independent energy producers.
While many jobs will be created by the construction of large renewable energy projects, there is even better news.
Foreign studies have shown that when it comes to “green energy”, it can create up to six times more jobs than an equivalent increase in conventional energy production processes, including nuclear power.
And 75% of those jobs are sustainable. He looks at the fact that the light at the end of our offload tunnel may be green.
