The Government’s Clean Energy Jobs Plan estimates that the transition to net zero could support around 35,000 additional clean energy jobs in the South West by 2030. This is an estimate rather than a precise forecast, but it gives us a sense of the scale of the opportunity.
The South West Net Zero Hub recently commissioned Stantec, in partnership with the Office for Clean Energy Jobs within DESNZ, to review the evidence already held across the region about clean energy jobs and skills. What does this evidence tell us about the opportunity — and the workforce needed to realise it?
A remarkably diverse clean energy economy
The South West is at the forefront of some of the UK’s most significant clean energy opportunities, from floating offshore wind in the Celtic Sea and nuclear in Somerset, to geothermal in Cornwall, hydrogen and carbon capture in Dorset, and retrofit and low-carbon heat across the region.
These opportunities are at very different stages of development, and not all will come forward as currently envisaged. But they illustrate the breadth and diversity of the clean energy transition taking place across the South West — from major infrastructure projects to activity that will create demand across communities and economies throughout the region.
So, what do we know about the workforce implications?
A wealth of regional intelligence — but a fragmented picture
The study brought together intelligence from local authorities, skills organisations, industry, and regional partners, including more than 160 reports, strategies and datasets. This includes a wealth of work already being undertaken across the region to understand workforce needs, drawing on established tools and sources, including Lightcast, ONS and NOMIS, alongside local skills plans, project studies and employer intelligence.
This revealed a substantial body of local and regional intelligence about the clean energy transition and the projects and sectors expected to drive growth.
But there is no single source that captures the whole of the South West’s clean energy workforce. Much of the available evidence has been developed for particular places, projects, or skills-planning purposes. The result is that we have a relatively strong picture of where clean energy growth is expected to happen, but a less developed picture of the specific occupations and skills that will be needed, and when and where that demand will arise.
This is not surprising. Clean energy is not a discrete part of the labour market, and many of the people needed to deliver the transition will also work across other sectors. Equally, the workforce needs generated by major investment may extend well beyond the location of the project itself.
What happens when we bring the evidence together?
The study found that national, regional, and local evidence does not always line up neatly. The different sources give us useful perspectives on the clean energy transition, but they do not provide a single, consistent picture of the workforce that will be needed. There is still uncertainty about the underlying detail — which occupations will be needed, where the demand will arise, and when.
Bringing the evidence together nevertheless helps us see the scale and broad geography of the opportunity, while showing where our understanding of the workforce implications is less certain.
Understanding that detail, and having greater confidence in it, will be important if the South West is to capture the economic and social benefits of the transition. Employers, skills providers and local partners need enough understanding of emerging demand to respond at the right time, while recognising that the clean energy project pipeline will continue to evolve.
Could a more joined-up regional picture add value?
The answer is not necessarily to make every place use the same evidence or methodology. Different places need different intelligence for different purposes.
But the study does raise a question about whether there is value in making the intelligence that already exists easier to connect, compare and use collectively as the region’s clean energy economy develops.
The Hub will explore this question with regional employers, skills providers, local government, industry and national partners at a roundtable later this year. The discussion will test the findings of the study, explore the biggest gaps in current workforce intelligence and consider where stronger regional coordination could add value.
We now have a much better shared picture. The question is how we make that picture more useful for workforce planning.