Skills gap to hit UK clean energy plans

London – Industry skills shortages will seriously impact on the UK’s ability to implement the recommendations of the recent Energy White Paper, a Doosan Babcock poll of 500 senior corporate executives, energy analysts, MPs, environmentalists, NGOs and academics has found

According to the findings of the company’s Energy Pulse survey, most leading energy experts (87%) believe that the UK energy industry is facing a serious skills shortage, which is likely to hamper the drive to a low-carbon economy.

The Energy White Paper went some way to tackling issues such as security of supply and the potential energy gap but there is clearly an increasing unease amongst energy experts about the ability of the industry to implement all the investment required, said Iain Miller, CEO of Doosan Babcock.

“To put this in context, the energy sector is competing for the same skills that will be needed for the 2012 Olympics and other infrastructure projects so we really need a clear commitment to skills within the energy sector if we are to support the necessary new build and retrofits needed to avert a generation gap,” added Miller.

The majority of Energy Pulse survey respondents believe that nuclear energy has a substantial part to play in solving the energy gap (56%) however; it is a balanced portfolio that is considered to be the ultimate solution (61%).

Some 62% of industry experts said clean coal with CO2 Capture and Storage, nuclear energy and a balanced portfolio are likely to make the most short-term or immediate impact to solving the UK’s energy gap.

With regard to corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes and their impact on combating climate change, 71% of industry respondents said such schemes have an insignificant impact on climate change. Likewise, 77% of respondents said the recent Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change would not impact government policy in this area.