Pathways to progress

This 2GW, 525km connection is a £4.6billion project from SSEN Transmission and National Grid Electricity Transmission, which will power over two million UK homes and play a major role in delivering net-zero targets.

As project director, I was proud to celebrate this milestone moment with many of our partners in the north-east, where it all began for me in a career that started in oil and gas.

Looking back on those days, it is striking to consider just how much things have changed and continue to change, as our work to deliver net-zero and energy security gets underway in earnest.

Through EGL2, and SSEN Transmission’s wider Pathway to 2030 programme, we are investing £20bn to upgrade the electricity network in the north of Scotland through onshore and offshore connections that will create 9,000 jobs in Scotland and play a vital role in delivering the UK’s 2030 clean power targets.

It took the North Sea oil and gas industry two and a half decades to reach peak production, alongside the development of a workforce whose skills are now exported worldwide.

We have nowhere near the same time to deliver the projects required for net-zero, and that creates a huge challenge in developing the skills base vital to the energy transition. The number of roles required far outstrips the number currently supporting the UK oil and gas sector – demonstrating the scale of economic expansion for Scotland that comes with the transition to home-grown renewables.

The pace and scale of the challenge is seismic, but it is also a huge opportunity to attract new talent while retaining and developing the crucial skills that have underpinned our world-class UK energy sector.

Now for the tricky part – how do we achieve this?

At SSEN Transmission, we are committed to developing a young workforce and we have recently welcomed our biggest intake of new recruits to our graduate programme, all of whom will eventually move into specialist roles that will help in delivering a network for net-zero.

We are set to recruit 500 new roles into the business this year alone, and there is a huge variety of skills and capabilities we are looking for – from technical to non- technical – and no wrong path for people who want to develop their career with us.

A majority of the workers directly employed as part of the EGL2 project don’t come from a renewables or transmission background, but have transferred from roles in oil and gas, as well as other industries.

But we also need to tell a compelling story that will encourage more people to consider a career in energy.

This was among the topics of discussion at the Green Skills conference, which brought together a range of organisations from education and industry to focus on solutions to secure Scotland’s energy skills base.

What is abundantly clear is that there is no shortage of will – I was impressed by the level of engagement and passion of those nurturing the next generation of energy professionals, and creating opportunities for the current workforce to upskill and retrain.

There are many things we all agree on – the need for certainty in investment, as well as strong collaboration across the industry supply chain, academia, and skills bodies to enable training and education pathways.

But we also need fresh thinking, and recognition that the scale and pace of change means that doing things in the traditional way is no longer an option.

For example, the days of working in project silos are gone – we need to have an adaptable, nimble workforce that can work across multiple projects as part of a large portfolio.

This means drawing on a range of talents and not only those traditionally associated with the energy industry.

To achieve this broad skills base, we need to call on the collective power of industry, education providers, and skills organisations to produce a compelling story for people who might not necessarily be considering a career in renewable energy.

Scotland has a major part to play in delivering net-zero, but we need more people to join us on that journey. By working more closely to develop strong pathways and telling the story of the huge variety of opportunities available, we can bridge our skills gap and build a workforce to match the scale of our clean energy ambitions.