A symbol of progress on North East shores
Summer isn’t only the season of sunshine and blue skies. This year, it also heralded a plethora of reports and publications underlining the ambitions that underpin NESA and the work of our partners.
From the UK Government, the launch of the Clean Energy Industries Sector Plan stated the case for the country to become a global leader in clean energy by 2035. It links to the new UK Modern Industrial Strategy, a 10-year plan designed to boost business investment and accelerate the growth of future-facing industries and high-growth sectors.
At the same time, the Scottish Government published its Future Trends for Scotland report, providing a horizon scanning tool covering the next two decades. It is brought together under six key themes: Politics and governance; economy; society and communities; technology; natural resources; energy and climate change; health.
There are common themes, including:
- Attracting investment in clean energy
- Building manufacturing capability and capacity
- Creating high quality, skilled jobs
- Harnessing the power of partnership working
In the North East we can point to those principles in action. The opening of the Energy Transition Skills Hub an exemplar project that provides a foundation for positive economic, environmental and social change.
ETZ Ltd has worked with regional and national partners to deliver the project, which was handed over to NESCol in August. The College is the operator of the exciting new facility. It has received funding support from the UK Government and Scottish Government’s Just Transition Fund for the North East and Moray, ETZ, Shell UK and NESCol.
The College was proud to welcome the first cohort of full-time North East Scotland College Students to the Hub on 25 August, with those initial groups focused on welding and fabrication skills and benefiting from purpose-built facilities equipped to the highest standards. The tools of the trade are integral to the skills and knowledge our teams impart, and the Hub is designed to showcase the technologies and innovation that will drive the energy sector in the years and decades ahead.
The long-term visions and policy frameworks expressed by both governments, by their nature, feel remote and detached from the reality of the real world.
Energy transition, and a just transition, are not theories or concepts that belong in a report or study findings. They matter to the lives and livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of North East residents now and we cannot delay and must set our own pace.
That principle provided the genesis for NESA and the goal of injecting pace into the upskilling and reskilling of the workforce remains at the forefront of our thinking as an organisation. Over recent years the cornerstones have been set and we are in an exciting period of building for the future.
The Energy Transition Skills Hub is a tangible demonstration of the determination for the region to lead from the front. It is an impressive centre of excellence and the first of its kind in Scotland.
Access to flexible training – for employers seeking to develop their workforce and for individuals with their own professional and personal aims in mind – is integral to the operational plan and the need for this has shone through in the research carried out by NESA. There will also be a focus on encouraging community groups and organisations to embrace new opportunities at the Hub.
Although the Hub is not a NESA project, it is a shining example of the way the focus on accelerating energy skills is being implemented in what is a very collegiate and joined-up landscape in our region.
For all partners and all projects in the region, there is a sense of momentum. Recent award wins for NESA, including at the Herald Education Awards and just last month at the Scottish Green Energy Supply Chain Awards hosted by Scottish Renewables are a fantastic endorsement for the direction we are taking as a collective and great inspiration as we continue to press forward with our work.
