Career Opportunities in Energy Studies

The sustainable energy industry has now emerged as a new sunrise industry that is growing globally faster than the information technology, tourism, manufacturing and coal mining industries. This has led to a shortage of workers with training in sustainable energy production and use, and has opened up a new range of exciting career options. It has recently been predicted that worldwide, jobs in the renewable energy and energy efficiency industries will rise to more than 3 million over the next twenty years.

Shell Oil Company has publicly announced that 50% of its entire business is likely to be through renewable energy technologies by 2050 and BP Solar has announced that its photovoltaic solar cell production will grow to a $1 billion per year business by 2007. A number of recent initiatives by power utilities, such as Greenpower schemes, and state and Australian Federal and State Government legislation and funding schemes mean that the sustainable energy industry is expected to expand Australia wide in the next decade at a similar rate to the rest of the world. A report in the Australian Financial Review (January 2001) stated that the Australian renewable energy industry is set for a $3 billion dollar injection over the next decade from the introduction of just one recent piece of Federal Government legislation.

There have recently been many new renewable energy projects developed or proposed across Australia. Recent renewable energy projects in Western Australia include: Western Power's wind farms at Albany and Denham, their proposed Mallee bioenergy plant at Narrogin and a concentrating solar cell system at Rockingham; a new private wind farm at Okagee in Geralton; and renewable energy power systems at the Rockingham and Piney Lakes Environment Centres.

Some recent or proposed major sustainable energy installations in other parts of Australia include: Australian Inland Energy's photovoltaic concentrating system at White Cliffs, 1,100 km west of Sydney; Energy Australia's Koorangang Island wind turbine near Newcastle and Singleton Solar Farm; Advance Energy's Western Plains Zoo PV system situated at Dubbo; Great Southern's photovoltaic system at Queanbeyan. Pacific Power and Great Southern Energy's wind farm near Crookwell in NSW's Southern Highlands; Pacific Power and Advance Energy's proposed wind farm at Blayney in the Central West of NSW; and Stanwell Corporation's proposed wind farm at Toora, 180km South East of Melbourne. Stanwell Corporations "Windy Hill" wind farm on the Atherton Tablelands in Far North Queensland, its hydroelectric schemes at Koombooloomba and Kareeya south of Ravenshoe in far North Queensland, and Barron Gorge 20 kilometres north of Cairns, its biomass-fired power station beside Rocky Point Sugar Mill at Woongoolba, near Beenleigh in south-east Queensland and its biogas generating units in Townsville. The Northern Territory's Power and Water Authority utilises renewable energy in a number of remote and indigenous power systems, and these are set to increase significantly under several new Commonwealth Government initiatives. There are many others.

A similar growth in new renewable energy projects is being seen worldwide. The global wind industry alone has been growing at 40% per annum for the last five years and that growth is expected to increase over the next decade.

To meet the current and expected increase in jobs, trained staff are needed at the technical, trade and professional levels with the knowledge and skills to develop, promote and implement new methods of sustainable energy production, and improve the efficiency of existing systems and appliances. They need training in a wide range of knowledge areas including the social, environmental, economic, technical and scientific aspects of energy generation in a sustainable manner. Some of the areas of employment include:

Renewable Energy System Design and Planning
RE Manufacturing
RE Installation
Energy Policy Analysis and Development
Energy Economics
Energy Management and Efficiency Consulting
Greenhouse Gas Accounting and Reduction
RE Impact Assessing
RE R & D

Graduates can expect to pursue careers in:

Power Utilities;
Renewable energy manufacturing and installation companies;
International aid organizations;
Government departments;
Energy efficiency and environmental consultancies;
University and private industry research organizations as well as energy companies.

See our survey of recent employment advertisements suitable for Energy Studies graduates

Profiles of Energy Studies Graduates.