Training

Plans unveiled for major green energy training centre

Plans have been unveiled for a national training centre dedicated to green energy microgeneration technologies which will be opened in July on Merseyside.
Construction work will begin this month on the new Green Energy Training Centre (GETC) on Wirral International Business Park in Bromborough with funding for the £280,000 project being drawn from both the public and private sector.

The GETC is a partnership between the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) and two Wirral based private businesses, Green Power Forum founder Stiebel Eltron, the German owned renewable energy product manufacturer, and Scientiam the Birkenhead based training provider. In total Stiebel Eltron will invest £57,372, Scientiam £100,050 and SFA £122,275, through the Regional Skills Capital Development Fund. The GETC will be built at Stiebel Eltron's premises.

Stiebel Eltron's UK managing director and GPF Chairman Mark McManus said he wanted to hear from engineers, electrical contractors, plumbing contractors and heating and ventilation specialists as well as other tradesmen looking to transfer and improve skills.

"We know the GETC can play a vital role in filling the green energy skills gap," he said. "We further know emphatically that green energy is the future with £100bn being invested in the industry creating an estimated 160,000 jobs by 2020. However, if we are to meet the UK's target of 15pc of UK energy coming from renewable sources by 2020, there is a desperate need to improve the quantity and calibre of training available specifically in microgeneration technologies. This is precisely what the GETC will focus on. Microgeneration is defined as green technologies found within homes and commercial properties which produce heating, hot water, ventilation, lighting and electricity. This includes equipment such as ground and air source heat pumps, solar panels and solar photovoltaic. These technologies have a vital role to play as today renewables account for less than 2pc of energy production and by 2016 all new homes built must be carbon neutral."

Mr McManus said the GETC will provide the highest standards of training on the latest equipment helping installers from across the UK become accredited for the Government's Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS). This accreditation is critical as without it property owners using installers not recognised by the MCS cannot apply for Government grants, which can pay up to half the costs of buying and installing green energy equipment. The GETC will also be offering CPD accredited courses in conjunction with the Green Power Forum.

Scientiam managing director Mandi O'Shea urged heating and plumbing businesses keen to improve their green energy training and qualifications to get in touch to enrol on courses.

"We are incredibly excited about the new GETC and what it can do for businesses and young people across Merseyside and the North West," she said. "We know through SummitSkills, the Sector Skills Council for the building services engineering sector, that the 2000 heating and plumbing business in the North West are calling for more green energy training to help them comply with new building standards. Moreover we know the centre will play a key role in training the next generation of tradesmen to work in the green industry. In the teeth of a recession and with youth unemployment at its highest level since records began we need to train young people in a sector where there is a massive jobs demand, and there is committed long term investment".

"But to ensure this centre really does make an impact we have partnered with Stiebel Eltron as one of the biggest and most established renewable energy product manufacturers in the world. With its experience and expertise we know the GETC will have considerable substance behind it."

For further information on the GETC contact

• John Watts
• Scientiam
• email: john.watts@scientiam.co.uk
• telephone: 0151 650 1678

• Emma Parker-Goff
• Green Power Forum
• email: emma@artemismedia.co.uk
• telephone: 0151 666 5777