by Laura Varley
29 Sep 2026
A new report found that the country’s renewable energy sector is facing a growing workforce challenge.
Solar Ireland – the representative body for Ireland’s solar industry – and Collins McNicholas have published new data exploring the people, skills and experiences powering Ireland’s clean energy ambitions.
The body’s inaugural renewable energy workforce and skills report was launched today (29 September) and aims to highlight an industry with strong job creation and clear demand for skilled professionals. 
To form the research, Solar Ireland gathered data from 50 organisations as a means of better understanding how businesses across the renewable energy sector are experiencing recruitment, skills and workforce development. 
Respondents included companies in the solar industry (46pc), multi-technology (34pc), onshore wind (6pc) and energy storage (2pc), among others. What stood out was that despite a growing industry and skill needs, employers are finding recruitment difficult, with experience presenting the biggest challenge.
Of the report’s findings, Ronan Power, the CEO of Solar Ireland, said, “We spend a lot of time talking about the infrastructure Ireland needs for the energy transition – more renewable generation, more grid, more storage, more electrification. But behind every solar farm, rooftop installation, battery project and grid connection are people.
“People designing projects, getting them through planning, financing them, building them, connecting them and keeping them running. And we’re going to need more of them.”
Solar Ireland’s report found that engineers and programme managers specifically are among the most difficult employees to recruit. The research identified a lack of practical experience as a significant barrier to recruitment, even more than skills shortages. 
Solar Ireland said its report, ‘The Experience Gap’, which was developed using research carried out with Collins McNicholas, found that almost three-quarters (74pc) of employers surveyed identify lack of experience as a barrier to filling roles, compared with 60pc who cite skills shortages more generally.
Solar Ireland said that roughly 11,500 are employed directly and indirectly by the renewable energy sector, with major growth expected towards the end of the decade. 
Power said, “Almost 90pc of employers responding to our survey expect their workforce requirements to increase over the next six to 18 months, and looking two to four years ahead, that rises to more than 92pc.”
He added, “This isn’t a problem we should wait to have. Industry is telling us now that it expects to need more people and it’s telling us where the pressure points already are. That’s an opportunity. We have time to build the pipeline before it becomes a brake on delivery.”
According to the research, a challenge for employers is in finding candidates with the right qualifications, who have delivered projects, worked through planning and grid processes, managed construction, commissioned infrastructure or dealt with the problems that arise when complex projects move from the drawing board into the real world.
“That’s much harder to teach in a classroom,” the report noted. “And it’s particularly difficult for a young, fast-growing industry because the number of people in Ireland with five or 10 years of renewable energy experience is inevitably limited.”
30pc of contributing employers also found environmental and planning specialists difficult to recruit. 
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“Planning was one of the themes that kept appearing, even when we weren’t specifically asking about planning. Respondents mentioned planners, planning consultants, EIAR specialists, ecologists and people with experience navigating planning applications for renewable energy and grid infrastructure,” the report said. 
“That raises an important point – planning isn’t only a policy and process challenge, it’s a people challenge too. We can improve legislation and processes, but we also need enough people, in both the public and private sectors, who understand the system and can make it work.”
Amid a landscape in which employers are already finding it difficult to recruit experienced people in a timely manner, the report found that they are also struggling to meet employee and organisational needs, via training and educational pathways. 
Only 40pc agreed that their current such processes fit the bill, with 42pc saying they sometimes meet their needs, while 17pc said it was a rare occurrence. 
The report said: “We shouldn’t read that as a criticism of Ireland’s education system. Renewable energy is moving incredibly quickly. Technologies change, regulations change and the skills needed on projects change with them. The challenge is making sure training can move as quickly.
“Employers point to gaps or pressures around grid, commissioning, electrical engineering, solar-specific knowledge, planning, project management and practical construction experience.”
Many of the employers who participated in the research agreed that the answer to the issue is relatively simple – the most efficient and effective intervention would be increased training and education. However, the report emphasised that improved training is not the only change that needs to be made. 
Students, professionals and organisations also need to reconsider their view of what an engineer, project manager or other renewable energy expert actually is, accord to Solar Ireland.  
The research emphasises how there isn’t just one way into a career in renewable energy. Working life has changed and so too have the responsibilities and expectations that accompany a role. 
Solar Ireland explained that pathways via apprenticeships, further education, universities and careers in construction, infrastructure, finance, legal, technology and data, among others, are ideal ways to work towards a renewable energy-based career. 
“One of the risks when we talk about a renewable energy workforce is that people immediately picture engineers in hard hats. We need those engineers, and we need electricians too. Lots of them,” the report said. 
“But look across a renewable energy project and you’ll also find planners, ecologists, project managers, lawyers, finance teams, technicians, policy professionals, commercial teams, communications specialists, construction professionals and many more.”
Ultimately, the report finds: “Ireland has strong education and training. It has talented people who want to build careers. And it has a renewable energy industry that needs them. The opportunity now is to build a stronger bridge between learning and experience.”
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Related: reports, energy, project management, Ireland, skills, engineering, solar, recruitment, renewables, survey
Laura Varley is the Careers editor at Silicon Republic. She has a background in technology PR and journalism and is borderline obsessed with film and television, the theatre, Marvel and Mayo GAA. She is currently trying to learn how to knit.
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