What Next For The Solar Industry?

There is no question that the solar industry is going through a time of transition. What is less clear is the extent of the transition and precisely what the landscape will look like in five or ten years' time.

While the domestic PV market has all but disappeared following the Government's slashing of the feed-in-tariff rate, there is still a good level of activity in the commercial rooftop space. We are though fast approaching the end of the large scale solar PV grace period projects. This will put more experienced solar industry candidates in the position to have to look again at their options for the future.

We are all familiar with the worst case scenario predictions that between 18,000 and 30,000 jobs could be at risk as a result of the collapse of the domestic PV industry. It will be some time before we can assess the true extent of the fall-out resulting from the Government's policies over recent years.

The early indications are that the transition is happening on a number of levels.

Some businesses and employees have decided to return to their pre-solar life in the mechanical and electrical contracting sector. A few have successfully refocused their operations around commercial PV installations.

A number, who read the road ahead for domestic PV, have either already transitioned or started to transition towards becoming more holistic renewable / clean energy specialists, offering customers a range of technologies.

For those who get their business model right and can attract the best talent, the future looks bright.

One of these technologies is energy storage, an area which is beginning to attract a lot of column inches both within the UK and internationally. Much of this is fuelled by automotive giants including Mercedes Benz and Tesla which are at the forefront of electric car innovation.

Imperial College London's Futures Lab has estimated that energy storage technologies could generate savings of £10billion a year by 2050 in the UK alone.

A vast array of technologies to store energy - from pumped hydro to powerful and efficient batteries - are being developed and implemented around the world, primarily in Germany, Japan, the US and the UK.

Estimates by Lux Research, the independent research and advisory firm, suggest the global industry for energy storage could be worth $100bn in the next few years.

So there is hope for those currently battling the dilemma of whether to stay in the clean energy sector or revert back to their previous industry which perhaps offers a chance to step off the renewable rollercoaster.

I am increasingly being called upon by clients and candidates to provide guidance regarding the transferral of skills from solar into other areas of renewable energy.

The overwhelming feedback I have had is that the majority are keen to continue working in our sector either because they find the work more interesting or challenging or simply because they believe in the future importance of clean energy and want to play their part.

The breadth of roles for which Hyperion and others are recruiting is extremely wide including design engineers, project developers, planners, site managers, business developers, project managers, finance specialists and marketing experts.

Another trend we are increasingly going to see is people taking on interim roles rather than full-time positions. This route can work well for clients and candidates "“ in the case of a client allowing them to test a market opportunity without long-term commitment and, in the case of the candidate, enabling them to gain experience in an emerging sector with the flexibility to move on elsewhere after a certain time period.

For companies looking to recruit from the solar PV sector, it is vital that they carry out their due diligence to ensure that the people they are hiring genuinely have the capabilities and credentials they say they have.

Equally, it is important that organisations understand the need to allow new recruits the time to transition to new technologies. No matter how transferable the skills from solar, all candidates will face a learning curve and employers will need to provide the training and support necessary to bring their new recruits up to speed as swiftly as possible.

It is now imperative that we come together as a united industry to build for the future, supporting those technologies on a growth path and ensuring that as many people as possible "“ who are committed to our sector and have the skills to match "“ find the career opportunities they are seeking.