Appendix 3 – Work Package 1 and 2 survey

from Developing the future energy workforce

by racefor2030

Table 15. Opportunities to strengthen Australia’s energy innovation system

The survey was preceded by an ethics statement, including an assurance of anonymity for respondents and contact details for the UTS ethics department and the research directors responsible for the survey.

Q1 What is the most important information you would like to be collected from a survey of the clean energy workforce?

E.g. energy efficiency jobs versus renewable energy jobs, clean energy jobs numbers versus fossil fuel jobs numbers, diversity metrics, jurisdictional breakdown, breakdown of job types, skills and training of the clean energy workforce, etc.

Q2 Would you prefer to see a survey/ projection for the Clean Energy Sector only, or for the Energy Sector as a whole? (Please give reasons below)

• Clean energy sector only • Energy sector as a whole

Q3 We will be assessing alternative methodologies to measure the clean energy workforce. There may be trade-offs in the survey’s outcomes based on the choice of methodology.

Please rate the importance of the following potential survey characteristics as: not important, somewhat important, important, very important, or vital.

• Completeness of coverage (e.g. all energy sectors, all parts of supply chain) • Overall number of jobs by sector • Breakdown of jobs by occupation • Breakdown of jobs by state/Local Government Area • Breakdown of jobs by diversity metrics • Ability to be repeated annually/ biennially • Cost of survey • Ability to project future workforce from energy scenarios • Ability to project future market size (value) from energy scenarios

Q4 Thinking about projecting the size and makeup of the workforce, what time horizon are you interested in (pick the most important)?

• Next twelve months

• Next 2 years • Next 5 years • Next 10 years • To 2050 Q5 Sectors to include: Please rate the importance of including the following sectors in the survey, calculations, and projections, as not at all important, slightly important, moderately important, very important, or extremely important.

• Energy management & demand management including asset, building or facilities management, software and systems, & paid and unpaid demand response • Energy efficiency Including auditing and measurement, automation, energy upgrades/ retrofits, and low energy building construction • Cross-cutting services Including finance, consultancy, regulation, planning, advocacy, research • Renewable power generation and renewable heat • Electricity transmission and distribution • Fuels/ fuel switching Including biofuels, and Hydrogen • Transport Including electric and hybrid vehicles, electrification of buses/ rail, mode shifting (e.g. buses, trains, car share etc.)

Q6 Please identify anything additional we should include, and anything which you think should not be included. Any other areas that you would like to see included? Are there things we’ve included that you think should be excluded?

Q7 Studies into energy jobs and skills have found shortages of particular technical skills that could delay Australia’s energy transition. Some of these shortages are for:

• grid engineers • construction managers for wind and large-scale solar projects • blade and turbine technicians

• energy data analysts / energy data scientists • electricians certified to install solar (particularly in rural areas)

Considering the Australian market, are there other technical skills / skilled jobs currently, or anticipated to be, in short supply, that could slow down the energy transition (you can name more than one)?

Q8 In the next five (5) years do you foresee the shortages in these technical skills / roles to: • Improve • Stay the same • Worsen

• Unsure

Please explain your answer (optional)

Q9 We have completed a comprehensive literature review to answer the question: ‘What are the skills, and skilled professionals, required by 2030 to deliver a clean energy transition to net zero by 2050?’ We found:

“Of the skills identified as being required for clean energy transitions, most related to the complexities of raising awareness, communicating and convening dialogue across a range of sectors and disciplines, and fostering the shared vision and commitment between these diverse actors”. These cross-cutting / soft skills were more frequently reported as being needed to achieve clean energy transitions than technical and practical skills.”

Examples of some of the key cross-cutting / soft skills identified in the literature review are:

• process management • networking • collaboration

• retail skills – customer focus, marketing • communication

• project management • people management

Rate your level of agreement that cross-cutting / soft skills such as these are critical to enable Australia’s energy transition: