Green tech skills academy launches to help grow low carbon economy

The National Skills Academy for Environmental Technologies (NSAET) will offer employers in the growing environmental technologies sector hundreds of thousands of training courses at Further Education (FE) Colleges across Britain. Over 600,000 people already work in the building services engineering sector, including plumbers, electricians and heating engineers. The new skills academy is aimed at this growing employment sector.

With up to £2.5 million in funding over three years, the academy will offer over 200,000 mostly privately-funded courses across a network of specialist training 'hubs’. Courses will cover areas such as installation, maintenance and repair of photovoltaic panels as well as ground source heat pumps, biomass and rainwater harvesting.

Sustainable growth
"The Prime Minister has set an ambition for this to be the greenest government ever," said Skills Minister John Hayes, when he announced the academy on Friday. "To achieve this, Government, employers and training providers must work together to deliver the skills that will enable our economy to achieve truly sustainable growth. By giving the industries that design, install and maintain green solutions for homes and buildings access to world class training, the Academy will help ensure that the UK not only meets its emissions targets but leads the world in innovation."

The NSAET is one of 17 academies the Government has so far approved to help deliver the skills required by business. The Power Academy, which launched last autumn, provides courses in wind turbine operations and maintenance.

The launch of the NSAET was announced on the same day as the Business Secretary Vince Cable urgedmore businesses to launch apprenticeship schemes to create a new generation of skilled workers.

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