NSW Climate and Energy Action
A strategic focus on local content and workforce development is essential to unlocking the full potential of NSW's renewable energy future.
Building NSW’s renewable energy sector’s capacity and capability requires a coordinated approach. SGS partnered with the UTS Institute of Sustainable Futures (ISF) to identify and assess renewable energy sector employment opportunities and regional development opportunities.
The NSW Government’s Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap is expected to attract billions in private investment for regional energy infrastructure by 2030, create thousands of construction and operational jobs across the regions, and reduce the state's electricity emissions by 90 million tonnes by 2030.
To position the NSW economy and regional communities to benefit from these opportunities, SGS and ISF were tasked with identifying strategies to maximise local content, including SME involvement, and improve employment and skills in each renewable energy zone (REZ).
SGS and ISF:
- Identified and assessed employment and regional development opportunities for the renewable energy sector, including existing and potential local supply chains.
- Developed a baseline for each REZ based on the current state of their involvement in the entire renewable energy supply chain and their industry, training and labour market capacity.
- Mapped the opportunities across renewable energy supply chains from ‘cradle to grave’ - including raw material supply and processing (for example, cement, steel and copper), manufacturing and construction of electricity infrastructure, and the ‘back-end’ of the supply chain (such as recycling).
- Assessed the opportunities, barriers and strategies to increase local industry development, employment and training.
- Developed recommendations across three themes: long-term planning for local content, jobs and skills, supply chain development, and skills and training.
Click here to read the NSW Renewable Energy Sector Board’s Plan.
