Australia’s clean energy sector employs about 30,000 people, but it’s a sign of things to come that it’s only recently that the sector has had its first dedicated careers resource.

The free Clean Energy Careers Guide, produced by the Clean Energy Council (the peak body for Australia’s clean energy industry), demystifies pathways into roles across wind, solar, hydro and battery storage. The guide even lays out a table of the key qualifications and the levels of demand in 65 typical occupations across the industry. There’s just one problem: the table uses a traffic light system to show what roles Australia needs to succeed in its transition away from fossil fuels, and a quick glance shows way too many areas where demand for skilled workers outstrips supply.

In the ‘orange’ category, areas where shortages exist in some regions or some of the time, we have surveyors, electricians with solar rooftop accreditation, and all manner of specialist engineers.

There is also an unpalatable percentage of red dots, signalling the fields where report authors note “demand is not being met consistently and skill shortages exist in most regions”. To make the transition to a clean economy we’ll need way more wind and solar farm technicians, battery designers and battery deployment managers, and of course, a bunch more specialist engineers.

Clean Energy Council chief executive Kane Thornton spoke at the recent Jobs and Skills Summit about the growth of the renewable energy industry. “We’ve doubled the amount of renewable energy in Australia over the last five years. We need to basically double that again in the next five years. That means we’re going to have to at least double the workforce again in a very short period of time,” he says.

Australia’s TAFE sector is one of many organisations working hard on educating future renewables workers. Jenny Dodd, CEO of TAFE Directors Australia, says that in addition to targeted diplomas –such as the diploma of renewable engineering from TAFE NSW – the demand for micro-credentials and post-trade qualifications in renewables is booming.

Electricians come back to TAFE to do a specialty in solar or wind; automotive mechanics are being trained in how to service electric vehicles; and TAFEs across the country are building specialist facilities in response to requests and partnerships with industry – Federation University’s partnership with industry on a wind energy training tower that simulates working at heights on a wind turbine is just one example.

TAFE’s new courses have emerged due to requests and partnerships with industry, government policy, or specific market demand.

“Two years ago, most of this training wouldn’t have been in play,” Dodd says.