Renewables staff index rises by 20% in July

From the newsletter

The Renewables Rising Staff Index saw a 20% increase in July. This climb is primarily due to a sharp rise in job advertisements, which grew by at least 75%. The sector is also experiencing an uptick in completed projects, which is opening up roles within operations and maintenance. Mega-projects are creating special demand for highly specialised skills.

• The month of July saw at least 684 roles open across 30 African countries. Despite this wide distribution, only nine countries had more than ten roles, with South Africa accounting for the majority at 428 positions.

• The sector has witnessed several projects reaching financial closure, mainly in South Africa and Egypt, getting ready for construction and opening up hiring for project development. 

More details

• In terms of regional distribution, Southern Africa led in advertised roles with 467 positions, followed by East Africa at 110 and West Africa at 76. These regions have a wide disparity in terms of projects under development, with the North having the highest number of projects, followed by the South. However, due to language barriers, we might have missed listing some of the jobs from the North.

• Egypt and Morocco, in particular, are undertaking major renewable energy projects in wind and solar. The scale of their projects dwarfs the rest in Africa. For instance, Egypt's largest solar plant, which is also Africa's largest, at 1,100 MW, recently reached financial closure, and construction is set to commence soon, which could lead to more hiring.

• In East Africa, Kenya led the hiring with 56 open roles; in West Africa, Nigeria led with 42. These two countries have been making great progress in rural electrification through solar, and most of the roles have been in sales. However, there are developments in hydropower in DR Congo, where the Grand Inga project has been funded by the World Bank for technical feasibility, and this could open roles in engineering, construction, and project management.

• On the companies' side, the jobs are much more widespread. At least 200 companies opened roles in the month of July. Sun King led with 44 positions, followed by M-KOPA at 23 and Engie at 21. Sun King recently received $80 million in funding and has been aggressively hiring as it expands its market reach. Africa's major funder, the AfDB, advertised 18 positions, and the Norway-based Scatec opened 16 roles.

• Most of the jobs advertised were in engineering and technical positions, totalling 139 roles. This category spans a wide range, from traditional fields like mechanical engineering to newer specialisations such as AI and Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) engineers. Following closely were project management and development roles at 60 positions, and sales, business development and marketing with 51 openings. These figures indicate that companies in the sector are actively undertaking new projects, and these specific sets of specialists are crucial for their successful execution.

Our take

• As more companies enter the renewable energy sector, the competition for top talent will intensify. Businesses that proactively invest in developing and retaining skilled professionals will gain a significant competitive advantage.

• While the majority of current job roles have focused on wind and solar, the revival of hydropower projects will lead to a notable increase in hiring across the sector, given the substantial scale of such initiatives. Additionally, grid transmission and battery energy storage systems are expected to be the next major areas for recruitment.

• Job opportunities are set to spread across many more African countries as increasing numbers adopt renewable energy solutions. However, these new roles will primarily be concentrated in the sales of solar home systems and technical positions within the commercial and industrial sector.