Renewables Skills Shortage
Starting next month, Britain’s 26 million households will be able to collect a fixed fee of up to 41p a kilowatt hour for electricity they generate from roof-mounted solar panels and sell on to the grid. Up to 34½p a kilowatt hour is available for home-mounted windmills.
But Worcester Bosch says that the scheme, which seeks to kick-start a boom in so-called microgeneration, is being hobbled by a chronic shortage of certified engineers who must fit the equipment for consumers to qualify for the payments.
Across the UK there are about 500 certified installers of renewable energy equipment, compared with about 120,000 registered gas engineers, under the equivalent Gas Safe scheme, formerly known as Corgi.
From The Times
