Are you young and unemployed? Gauteng Premier, Panyaza Lesufi, has invited you to train as a solar panel installer.
A statement from Lesufi’s office said training will be done in partnership with MERSETA (Manufacturing, Engineering and related services sector education and training authority).
Youth unemployment is at 61%.
A study by a consultancy in Europe, Taylor Hopkinson’s Alice Yoeurp, identified overcoming a shortage of skills in the renewable energy sector as necessary in an ideal net zero world.
Back in 2013, Europe had a shortage of an estimated 7,000 qualified personnel for the wind energy sector. The report thus warned that the number could more than double by 2030, if the number of graduates from the relevant industry does not increase.
The point about a need to upskill locals in the Just Transition was also echoed by Dr Lwazi Ngubevana, Director of the African Energy Leadership Centre (Wits Business School). Ngubevana said energy poverty affects women and young people the most, thus requiring South Africa to revisit its industrial policy and skills, as part of the Just Transition process. He was speaking at the Global Business Schools virtual event, titled “powering the energy transition: A tale of two hemispheres.”