A potential ‘jobs boom’ in solar technology

Solar certainly offers many attractions to the ambitious electronics engineer because it is relatively new it provides novel technical challenges, its base technology is less complex than that already used in other electronics sectors meaning that barriers to entry are low and last, but certainly not least, it gives the opportunity to do your bit in saving the planet. But for the moment it appears that there are not enough good people to satisfy employer demand. So why should this be?
The problem lies in the fact that activity in the solar sector is presently focused on a relatively small number of countries. The UK, for example, has largely turned its back on the technology (look out the window and you may see why) in favour of alternatives such as wind turbines and biofuels. Consequently, in Europe, the front-runners are Spain (although a recent cap on solar installations by the Spanish government may dampen this) and Germany.

Germany has been the world’s biggest investor in the solar sector since 2005 and the German government is estimated to have subsidised the industry with over € 1 billion to date. The government has also used its legal powers to stimulate the sector, incentivising organisations and private individuals to generate their own electricity which power companies then have to buy from them at a preferential rate. The result has been the creation of the country’s own Silicon Valley in several of the eastern states such as Saxony, Brandenburg and Thuringia.

Servicing the development of these growing enterprises is, however, proving difficult given the fact that Germany is suffering from a serious shortage of engineering professionals one commentator, the Federal Labour Agency, has estimated that up to 95,000 positions remain unfilled because of this. Plans are consequently now afoot to open the door to more non-EU engineers, but for the moment the result is one of the fiercest wars for talent on the European continent.

EE Times