Australia’s solar manufacturing future needs skilled expatriate workforce: report

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The United Arab Emirates (UAE)-headquartered International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) Renewable Energy and Jobs Annual Review 2024 estimates that a domestic capacity of 1 GW for polysilicon, wafers, cells and modules would require $3.2 billion (USD 2.2 billion) in subsidies over a decade, while a capacity of 5 GW would cost $7.8 billion.

The report identifies that Australia’s module capacity is currently 160 MW without upstream facilities and a domestic upstream industry could support up to 4,000 jobs directly.

However, the report suggests Australia will require an expatriate force of workers skilled and experienced in solar manufacturing, at least until skilling programmes can close labour gaps.

Co-researched with the Switzerland-based International Labour Organisation, it’s Director-General Gilbert Houngbo said investing in education, skills, and training helps reskill all workers from fossil fuel sectors, address gender or other disparities, and prepare the workforce for new clean energy roles.

“It is essential if we are to equip workers with the knowledge and skills that they need to get decent jobs, and to ensure that the energy transition is a just and sustainable one,” Houngbo said.

“A sustainable transition is what the Paris Agreement requires of us, and what we committed to achieving when we signed up to the agreement.”

Australia ranks 10th in the world for solar-related employment, most of which is engaged in rooftop solar installation.

Image: International Renewable Energy Agency

A recently released, Australian industry-lead cooperative research centre Reliable Affordable Clean Energy for 2030 (RACE for 2030) report concluded electricity sector jobs in Australia must double from its current 30,000 to 63,000 to meet domestic clean energy demands by 2030, and 119,000 by 2050.

Globally, 16.2 million clean energy jobs were created in 2023, of which 7.1 million were solar related jobs, or 44% of the world’s renewable energy workforce.

Of the 7.1 million solar jobs created globally, Australia is in tenth position of the top 10 performing countries, contributing under 100,000.

The report found that Australia added 3.7 GW of solar capacity in 2023, which was less than the capacity added in each of the previous six years, and according to the Clean Energy Council (CEC), more than three-quarters of the new additions, or 2.9 GW, were in the labour-intensive rooftop segment.

Most solar jobs were found by the report to be in operation and maintenance, given that Australia imports the bulk of the solar panels, and it cites an Australian PV Institute report outlining a roadmap to 2030 for increased solar manufacturing, which examines requirements and opportunities.

In 2023, a record 347 GW of solar capacity was added to the global output, with a cumulated 1,411 GW of capacity.

Australia is in the top 10 countries for solar capacity, contributing 1.1% in 2023 to the 347 GW, behind Japan (1.2%), the Netherlands (1.2%), Italy (1.5%) and Spain (1.6%), the United States (7.2%) and the largest contributor, China (62.8%).

Most of the worlds renewable energy jobs are solar driven.

Image: International Renewable Energy Agency

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