12 December, 2024 Member article

ISA & Becquerel Institute collaboration sheds light on solar PV jobs across Africa by 2050

The International Solar Alliance (ISA), an India-based intergovernmental organisation, has partnered with ARE Member Becquerel Institute, a strategic consulting firm and applied research institute specialised in solar PV, to produce a report on “Employment and Skills in Solar PV across Africa”, aiming to shed light on job- and skill-related challenges by 2050 as well as potential solutions and good practices to be implemented to bridge potential gaps.

The initiative uses surveys and interviews with key stakeholders (companies, research and training centers, renewable energy associations, …) to gather primary data, providing a comprehensive analysis of future employment and skills opportunities and challenges in the African solar PV industry. While according to the African Solar Industry Association’s (AFSIA) 2024 report “Forecasting Green Jobs in Africa”, most green energy jobs by 2030 will come from the solar sector (57% of total), the report also highlights shortage of an adequate workforce as significant barriers to achieving large penetration of solar PV in Africa’s energy supply along with  financial constraints, infrastructure or policy hurdles.

The report will first provide an overview of the current skills and jobs landscape in the PV sector in Africa, focusing on the already existing challenges and implemented solutions. Then, the future needs that will arise as the PV market will grow, until 2050 will be quantified (e.g. number of jobs) and characterised (e.g. PV market segmentation, type of jobs, …). This will allow to assess the risk of seeing the gap between the supply and the demand, in terms of jobs and skills in the solar PV sector, increase.

The objective is then twofold:

  • Identify the future challenges, analyse how they differ from today and evaluate their criticality for the development of the PV market.
  • List good practices which can be implemented at various level (companies, funding bodies, government, …) to overcome these challenges and ensure they do not prevent the PV market to develop in Africa

The International Solar Alliance and Becquerel Institute are inviting upstream and downstream solar companies to contribute to the report by participating in the survey on Employment & Skills in Solar PV across Africa. Their input will play a crucial role in capturing the diversity of perspectives in the industry and strengthening the study.

Deadline: 31 January 2025

Take part in the survey