The new project that will train more than 100,000 workers in photovoltaics

It is the latest European project under the Net Zero Emissions Industry Act: the Solar Academy was born with the objective of train 100,000 workers of the photovoltaic sector in the next three years for fill the positions which is expected to be created according to the needs of this sector and, thus, guarantee that people who enter as renewable energy workforce effectively have the right capabilities. For its implementation, the Commission has allocated 9 million euros from the Single Market Programme.

In the words of Kadri SimsonCommissioner for Energy, “Solar energy is at the heart of our energy transition in Europe, with the potential to create thousands of jobs across our continent, at all stages of the industrial supply chain, from design to manufacturing, installation and maintenance. The Net Zero Academy set up by the Commission will help our European workforce seize this exciting opportunity and provide further support to achieve our ambitious REPowerEU goals.”

For a resilient and globally competitive industry

It is expected that by 2030, 66,000 skilled workers to give the European Union the impetus it needs to achieve the 43.5% of the planned renewable energy share and achieve more than 320 GW of solar photovoltaic capacity between now and 2025, and reach practically the 600 GW facing 2030. In this sense, the Solar Academy launched this June is the first of a series of academies that will be created to provide the necessary capabilities along the value chains of zero technologies. net emissions.

To achieve this milestone, the model of the European Battery Academy, launched in 2022, will be replicated for the battery value chain. In addition to the didactic contents, they will also be developed learning credentials to certify acquired skills in these training courses, which in turn contributes to the mobility of the workforce within this sector. The following will be responsible for implementing it: social partnersfrom vocational and educational training (VET) providers, to companies, universities or other education and training providers with whom the Academy signs contracts to implement these programmes.

The Net Zero Emissions Industry Act

The Net-Zero Industry Act was approved in May by the European Parliament to accelerate the energy transition that will lead the EU to climate neutrality. In addition to academies like this one, designed for specific technologies, it proposes measures to simplify the processes of granting authorizations and encourage investment in different renewable energies. The objective is to achieve that, between now and 2030, the global strategic manufacturing capacity of Net Zero CO2 technologies reaches at least 40% of annual needs deployment of these technologies.