What is the Clean Energy and Other Skills Package?
The Clean Energy and Other Skills Package will invest up to $32 million over 4 years to enable tradespeople and professionals in key industries to develop the skills needed to deliver clean energy services, products and advice to Australian communities and businesses.
Key occupations include builders and workers in:
- electrocomms (to promote low-cost energy efficiency design)
- facility managers (to support better management of existing buildings to ensure maximum performance)
- engineers (to support whole-process redesign of industrial applications)
- financial managers (to ensure good understanding of the business advantages of energy efficiency investments).
Funding for the package will be drawn from a range of programs administered by the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR).
Elements of the Package
The Package has four elements:
- baseline mapping project
- trades training
- professional training
- integration of energy efficiency skills.
About the baseline mapping project
The baseline mapping project will be undertaken in 2011 and 2012 and build on key reports on energy efficiency requirements by Skills Australia, the Prime Minister’s Task Group on Energy Efficiency, and work completed as part of the National Energy Efficiency Skills Initiative of Australia’s National Strategy on Energy Efficiency. It will:
- map the key occupations and industries responsible for the delivery of energy efficiency products, services and advice
- determine the key skills requirements in each of these industries
- assess the availability of nationally accredited VET courses and university courses to address these skills requirements
- review energy efficiency policies and programs established by the state and territory governments, private training organisations and industry, and consider the most appropriate role for the Commonwealth to ensure that the Clean Energy and Other Skills Package complements existing programs
- identify the most effective mechanisms for delivering skills to the existing workforce.
About trades training – developing skills sets
Relevant Industry Skills Councils (ISCs) will be asked to develop priority skills sets for the delivery of energy efficiency training to existing workers in the built environment industry. What is developed will be based on the findings of the scoping study.
The skills sets will enable workers to access the additional skills and competencies required to deliver and promote energy efficiency products, services and advice in the workplace and communities. The ISCs will develop training resources to support delivery of the skills sets by VET practitioners in Registered Training Organisations.
About professional training in the university sector
DEEWR will fund the development of an energy efficiency teaching module to provide undergraduate engineering students with the technical skills required to deliver and promote energy efficiency solutions.
It will target the engineering disciplines that are responsible for delivering the technical aspects of energy efficient solutions and complement a module developed by the Australian Research Institute for the Environment and Sustainability at Macquarie University that is designed for a non-technical audience.
Integrating energy efficiency skills
Projects that enhance workers’ energy efficiency skills will be undertaken in the building and construction sectors during 2011 and 2012. The projects will be funded through the National Workforce Development Fund (NWDF) in its first year of operation while it is being administered by DEEWR.
Projects that incorporate energy efficient work practices and principles and that develop skills that support the use of low emissions technology or support the development of clean energy skills, will also be supported by the Fund.
The program of projects will be driven by industry and the actual expenditure will be determined by the number and value of proposals submitted by interested industry groups.
As well as the NWDF, the Critical Skills Investment Fund currently targets training for job seekers and existing workers in the renewable energy sector. The first funding round was advertised in March 2011 and DEEWR is assessing in excess of $9 million in proposals from industry that support renewable energy development.
Further information
Read the Prime Minister’s Media Release about the Clean Energy and Other Skills Package.