Green energy skills centre to open in July

A new green energy microgeneration technologies training centre is to be opened on Wirral International Business Park in Bromborough.

Construction will begin this month on the new Green Energy Training Centre after a funding package of £280,000 was agreed between public and private sector partners.

The GETC is a partnership between the Skills Funding Agency and two Wirral-based firms who are both are putting cash into the project: Stiebel Eltron, a German-owned renewable energy product manufacturer, and Scientiam, a training provider based in Birkenhead.

Stiebel Eltron will invest £57,372, Scientiam £100,050 and SFA £122,275, through the Regional Skills Capital Development Fund. The GETC will be built at Stiebel Eltron's premises and is due to open in July.

Stiebel Eltron's UK managing director Mark McManus said: "We know the GETC can play a vital role in filling the green energy skills gap.

"We further know emphatically that green energy is the future with £100bn being invested in the industry, creating an estimated 160,000 jobs by 2020. However, if we are to meet the UK's target of 15% of UK energy coming from renewable sources by 2020, there is a desperate need to improve the quantity and calibre of training available specifically in microgeneration technologies."

Microgeneration is defined as green technologies found within homes and commercial properties, which produce heating, hot water, ventilation, lighting and electricity. This includes equipment such as ground and air source heat pumps, solar panels and solar photovoltaic.

GETC will help installers from across the UK become accredited for the Government's Microgeneration Certification Scheme. Property owners using installers not recognised by the MCS cannot apply for Government grants, which can pay up to half the costs of buying and installing green energy equipment.