Global solar industry has grown immensely within last couple of years. In 2017, China added 52 GW of new solar installations, while US installed 12.5 GW, India ~6 GW, Japan 5.8 GW, Germany 2.2 GW, taking respective positions as World’s leading solar countries.
Government of India has made huge strides to solarize the country. However, efforts are sure to come up short if one of the most important component of growth ‘manpower’ is not enhanced to shoulder the new responsibilities.
Current Scenario
It is important to note, that more than 200 million people in India still live without electricity, and since India’s solar mission is directed towards providing power for all, while benefiting from green energy transition, solar skill development efforts have to match or even surpass the solarisation goals.
Unemployment is a growing issue that is threatening to undone world’s efforts at transforming the socio-economic structure, in hopes of a better and sustainable future. And since India has 600 million people (more than half of its population) under 25 years, the country needs to make better and faster efforts at creating jobs. Fortunately solar has presented the solution with ease.
Solar industry has created 103,000 jobs in India till December 2017 and 1,017,800 jobs are expected be created within 2022. And not just in India-
Therefore, it is apparent that investing in solar skill development will solve the unemployment problem, while aligning India’s solar mission with a talented resource pool to complete it.
Government Initiatives are here but So are Challenges
Government of India properly understands the requirements at hand, and they have taken initiatives to build a capable work force. The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) has worked towards to create qualification standards to create more green energy work force.
The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has also made efforts to incorporate green energy education in various formal and in-formal training outfits. MNRE has also partnered with the United States to develop Solar Energy Training Network (SETNET), to make solar training programs in India more robust.
However, there are bureaucratic hurdles that limit the interaction between training institutes and industry. This is creating a huge gap between the demand and the available skilled resources. Besides the training systems currently are more focused towards theoretical understanding of different stages of solar development and lack of practical know how.
Additionally, high training cost also stands as a road block to quicker solar skill development.
Remedy to the Problems
Way Forward
India needs 1,116,400 skilled professionals in solar manufacturing, design, construction, maintenance, business development, and commissioning to reach its 100 GW by 2022 target. And although, India has shown incredible growth in solarisation, more focus is needed to boost solar skill development to reach the targets in sight. Otherwise the country may come up short in realizing its goals, which are suspected to transform the country.
http://ceew.in/pdf/CEEW-NRDC-Filling-the-Solar-Skill-Gap-Report%2012Feb16.pdf
https://www.nrdc.org/experts/anjali-jaiswal/what-skills-are-demand-grow-indias-solar-energy-market
http://vikaspedia.in/energy/policy-support/renewable-energy-1/suryamitra-skill-development-programme
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