By Arpit Sharma, Chief Executive Officer, Skill Council for Green Jobs
India’s renewable energy sector is becoming increasingly technology-intensive. Solar and wind assets are being digitalised, battery energy storage systems (BESS) are expanding, green hydrogen is emerging as a new industrial segment, and artificial intelligence (AI), automation, internet-of-things (IoT) systems and data analytics are becoming embedded across energy operations.
This transformation is also changing the skills that the renewable energy workforce requires. Technical knowledge will remain fundamental, but it will increasingly need to be combined with practical experience, digital literacy, data interpretation, automation capabilities and the ability to work with intelligent systems.
At the same time, a long-standing challenge remains: the gap between classroom education and practical, hands-on exposure. Renewable energy is inherently practical and technology-driven, and employability cannot be built through theoretical knowledge alone. Addressing this gap will require a much closer connection between educational institutions, training providers and industry.
Bridging the classroom-industry gap
A useful reference is Germany’s dual vocational education and training system, under which learning takes place both in vocational schools and within companies. Apprentices receive structured theoretical education while simultaneously gaining practical workplace experience. Companies, therefore, are not merely recruiters at the end of the training process; they participate in developing occupational competencies and training learners.
India can adapt some of these principles to its own requirements. Renewable energy training needs to become more industry-integrated, with students spending meaningful time working with actual technologies, equipment and processes. Industrial training institutes, universities and other training institutions can collaborate with renewable energy companies to establish Centres of Excellence, laboratories, apprenticeships, internships, live industry projects and structured on-the-job training.
For instance, a student studying solar photovoltaic (PV) should not only understand PV principles. Training should provide exposure to modules, inverters, mounting structures and electrical systems, as well as testing, commissioning, troubleshooting and maintenance. By the time a trainee enters a workplace, they should already be acquainted with the equipment that will be used on the job.
Industry also needs a more structured role in designing qualifications and curricula. This becomes particularly important in rapidly evolving areas such as green hydrogen, BESS, electric mobility and digitalised renewable energy systems, where occupations and competency requirements are changing quickly.
Australia provides another relevant example. Its skills architecture gives industry a formal role in identifying workforce requirements and developing vocational training products. The Australian government’s Jobs and Skills Councils are industry-owned and industry-led bodies that bring together employers, governments, unions and other stakeholders to identify skill requirements, map career pathways and facilitate collaboration between industry and training providers.
For India too, the underlying principle should be one of shared ownership. Industry participation should extend from identifying emerging job roles and defining competencies to curriculum development, training, assessment, apprenticeships, placement and post-placement feedback.
Making training employment-oriented
The relationship between training and employment also needs to become more direct. Instead of following a “train first and then look for employment” model, the system should begin by identifying industry demand, training people for clearly defined occupations, providing workplace exposure and creating pathways towards employment.
Faculty development will be equally important. Teachers and trainers need regular exposure to industry so that they remain familiar with current technologies, equipment, standards and workplace practices. At the same time, industry professionals can contribute by teaching and mentoring students, enabling a two-way transfer of knowledge between industry and the training ecosystem.
Assessment systems must evolve as well. Testing whether a candidate can recall theoretical information is not sufficient for many renewable energy occupations. Practical demonstrations, simulations, workplace assessments and competency-based evaluations can provide a better indication of whether a trainee is actually capable of performing a particular job. The objective should be to ensure that a trained individual entering a renewable energy company already possesses a basic level of practical competence, safety awareness, problem-solving ability and familiarity with the technology.
Digitalisation is changing green jobs
Even as the education-industry gap is addressed, the nature of the jobs themselves is changing. The green workforce of the future is unlikely to be divided neatly between “technical” and “digital” professionals. Instead, the sector will increasingly require hybrid skill sets that combine domain expertise with an ability to use digital technologies, interpret data and work with automated systems.
This transition is already visible in solar power. Solar technicians will continue to require knowledge of installation, electrical systems and maintenance, but will increasingly also need to work with digital monitoring platforms, remote diagnostics and sensors. Solar plants generate considerable operational data. The ability to interpret this information can help workers identify deviations in performance, anticipate equipment failures and optimise generation. Technologies such as drone-based inspection, thermal imaging, AI-enabled fault detection and digital twins will further change the way assets are inspected and maintained.
Similar changes are taking place in wind power. Modern turbines generate continuous information on wind conditions, vibration, temperature, power output and component performance. Technicians will increasingly interact with predictive analytics and AI-based systems designed to identify potential faults before equipment failures occur.
Consequently, traditional mechanical and electrical capabilities will increasingly need to be complemented by an understanding of sensors, condition monitoring, data interpretation and digital maintenance systems. Robotics and drones may also play a larger role in inspecting blades and other difficult-to-access components.
New technologies, new competencies
Green hydrogen requires a different combination of engineering and digital capabilities. Electrolysers, renewable power systems, compression and storage infrastructure and balance-of-plant equipment need to function as an integrated system. Professionals in this segment will therefore require an understanding of electrochemistry and hydrogen systems as well as instrumentation, process controls, automation, data analytics and industrial IoT. Digital monitoring can increasingly be used to assess electrolyser performance, energy consumption and hydrogen production, and to support predictive maintenance.
BESS is similarly creating specialised skill requirements. Relevant areas include battery management systems, power electronics, thermal management, energy management systems, sensors and data analytics. Technicians will need to understand how battery performance data can be used to identify degradation, optimise charging and discharging, improve safety and extend battery life. Knowledge of electrical safety, cybersecurity and digital controls will also become increasingly important.
These trends are not confined to renewables and storage. Electric mobility, smart grids, waste management, circular economy activities and sustainable manufacturing are also becoming progressively technology-driven.
Future green skills can therefore be considered across five broad dimensions: domain expertise, digital literacy, data and analytical capabilities, automation and control systems, and problem-solving and safety skills. Cybersecurity and the ability to work with AI-enabled systems will increasingly cut across these areas as physical energy assets become more digitally connected.
Preparing workers for convergence
Importantly, technology will not necessarily eliminate the need for skilled workers; it will change the nature of their work. Some routine monitoring and repetitive activities may become automated, but this will increase the importance of capabilities such as diagnosis, optimisation, decision-making, system integration and advanced maintenance.
This has important implications for the skilling ecosystem. Solar, wind or BESS technicians cannot continue to be trained solely on curricula developed around earlier generations of technology. Qualifications, curricula, training equipment and assessment frameworks will need to evolve alongside industry. Training centres will increasingly require access to digital simulators, actual equipment, monitoring platforms and industry-grade software. Trainers themselves will also require continuous upskilling as technologies and operational practices change.
The larger objective should be to prepare workers not just for individual technologies, but for the growing convergence of green technologies, digital systems and intelligent automation. Ultimately, the green worker of the future will need to be equally comfortable with the physical asset and the information surrounding it – able to understand the equipment on the ground while interpreting the digital information that indicates how it is performing. Building this combination of technical competence, practical exposure, digital capability and adaptability will be central to developing an industry-ready workforce for India’s evolving green economy.
