Renewable power has potential to create 2 million jobs in 5 years
Ronaldo Ribeiro de Freitas Filho, 34, has always liked renewable power. A trained electrotechnician and engineer, he was 23 when he decided to "migrate" to the "green job" field. And, on his own initiative, he decided to search for qualification. The opportunity came when he joined Enel, an Italian multinational company that generates and distributes electricity and gas, in 2011. The company was signaling that it would join the renewable segment with the foundation of Enel Green Power, which manages and develops energy production activities from renewable sources, in 2008.Over the years, the company offered him opportunities to specialize in this field, and Mr. Freitas Filho took the opportunity. "I was lining up both opportunities that Enel gave me, and those I sought out on my own," he said. Today he is the manager of Enel Green Power’s operations center in Brazil, and is studying at the Politecnico di Milano university through a program offered by the company. "We have options in the market to seek [qualification]," he said. "But I feel that partnerships could be explored more [to raise supply in training in this field], between companies and universities."His feeling is shared by other experts in renewable power generation. They say Brazil has the potential to generate at least 2 million jobs in renewable projects over the next five years, nearly two times the current number of jobs: in the country, there are about 1.2 million workers in this field. And there is not enough training to qualify for such a future volume of new workers.Brazil accounts for 10% of the world’s green jobs, mainly in hydropower and biofuels, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena). Experts say the country will strongly accelerate the pace of job generation.The wave will be more directed to solar and wind power in the coming years, a perceptible conclusion in view of projects in these areas contracted in auctions. In practice, however, there is insufficient availability of training for new entrants to the sector’s job market, according to the ClimaInfo Institute, a non-profit organization focused on climate change studies; the Brazilian Association of Solar Power (Absolar); and the Brazilian Wind Power Association (Abeeólica).These associations advocate partnerships between government, companies, and universities to increase qualification in renewable power. This would prevent a possible future hurdle in the expansion of the sector’s labor...
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