Despite Indonesia’s enormous potential for harnessing renewable energy and transitioning to a circular economy, employment in the industry continues to face a number of obstacles.
Analysts highlighted that the country currently lacks the technical manpower resources for occupations in the clean, green and renewable sectors, even though investments continue to pour in.
An employment gap caused by a high demand for technical manpower and a scarcity of ready talent, may prove to be a stumbling hurdle for many significant renewable infrastructure projects in the future.
This is owing to a lack of relevant education and training in the technical skills required to pursue a long-term professional path in the sustainability sector.
Against this backdrop, Indonesia would be cooperating with Switzerland to pilot technical educational institutions to prepare the locals for a career in the sustainability sector.
The Swiss government will work with private sector partners such as Schneider Electric Indonesia, Xurya Daya Indonesia, etc, to develop educational curriculum in the areas of installation, operation and maintenance of renewable energy devices such as solar Photovoltaics panels.
PT Xurya Daya Indonesia (Xurya), is a renewable energy firm focusing on rooftop solar power plant leasing in Indonesia, and has recently obtained USD 21.5 million in funding.
This series A fundraising round was headed by a venture capital company, East Ventures (Growth fund), and PT Saratoga Investama Sedaya Tbk, with current investors like Schneider Electric and New Energy Nexus Indonesia.
The funds would be used to build rooftop solar power plant in Indonesia, as well as to help the firm achieve its long-term goal of being a leader in delivering technology and solutions for clean and sustainable energy.
Before the educational curriculum begins, a batch of trainers will be identified to undergo a carefully structured “train-the-trainers” programme that will be conducted over two weeks.
The trainers could be expected to learn rooftop solar panel installations, solar energy engineering competency test and advanced skills on solar power generation technology.
Once the training is completed, the first batch of students could be expected to begin enrolment to the technical schools by the mid of 2022.
Other areas of academic curriculum would later include planning, design, building and installation, inspection and commissioning, supervision, operation, and maintenance of solar power plants, diesel solar hybrid power plants, and hydroelectric power plants.
The top policymakers believed that the pilot training programmes could be scaled up and repeated throughout Indonesia, eventually contributing to Indonesia’s energy transformation goals.
Terra Link Research 