As Kenya and its African neighbours race to meet ambitious renewable energy targets, a critical shortage threatens to derail the continent’s green transition: skilled workers who can build, operate, and maintain the infrastructure of a clean energy future.
The challenge is acute. Kenya has committed to achieving 100% clean energy by 2030, currently operating at 90% renewable electricity, according to the Climate Investment Funds. Meanwhile, the African Union’s Renewable Energy Initiative aims to deploy 300 gigawatts of renewable capacity by 2030, more than quadrupling the 72 gigawatts installed as of 2023, BloombergNEF reports. Yet across the continent, employers report struggling to find qualified candidates for roles essential to this transformation, from solar installation technicians to grid engineers capable of integrating intermittent renewable sources into ageing power networks.
“The hardware is becoming available, but the human capital isn’t keeping pace,” says a senior official at Kenya Power, speaking on condition of anonymity. “We can import turbines and solar panels, but we can’t import the workforce needed to deploy them at scale.”
The skills deficit spans multiple layers. At the technical level, Africa needs tens of thousands of engineers versed in renewable energy technologies, battery storage systems, and smart grid management. Kenya’s geothermal expansion, which now accounts for 47% of the country’s electricity generation with 985 megawatts of installed capacity, requires specialised drilling engineers and geoscientists. This expertise is in short supply even in developed markets.
But the gap extends well beyond technical disciplines. The energy transition demands project managers capable of navigating complex procurement processes, lawyers who understand power purchase agreements and regulatory frameworks, financial analysts who can structure innovative funding mechanisms, and community engagement specialists who can build local support for large infrastructure projects.
This multifaceted challenge requires rethinking traditional approaches to workforce development. Forward-looking African organisations are discovering that recruiting only from the narrow pool of candidates with explicit renewable energy experience creates an artificial bottleneck. Instead, they’re casting wider nets and investing heavily in internal training.
At Kenya’s Geothermal Development Company, engineers with backgrounds in conventional power, oil and gas, and even mining are being retrained for geothermal operations. The company operates the Geothermal Centre of Excellence, which was founded specifically to address regional skills gaps in the geothermal sub-sector. The centre offers comprehensive training programmes covering all aspects of geothermal energy development, from exploration to plant operations.
Similarly, Kenya Electricity Generating Company’s Geothermal Training Centre, established in 1989, has evolved into one of five Regional Flagship TVET institutes under a World Bank-supported East Africa Skills for Transformation and Regional Integration Project. The centre received $10.8 million in grant funding to upgrade infrastructure and expand its capacity to train professionals from across East Africa.
Private sector players are also building training ecosystems. Regional subsidiaries of multinational firms report developing extensive in-house programmes rather than competing for scarce experienced talent. These initiatives range from six-month technical bootcamps to multi-year apprenticeships that blend classroom instruction with supervised fieldwork.
The apprenticeship model, in particular, shows promise for Africa’s context. Unlike degree programmes that can take years to complete, structured apprenticeships can produce job-ready technicians in 18 to 24 months. They also offer a pathway for candidates who may lack formal higher education but possess aptitude and motivation. This addresses both skills gaps and youth unemployment simultaneously, a critical concern as the African Development Bank estimates that 10 million youth enter the workforce annually but only 3 million new jobs are created.
Kenya’s Technical and Vocational Education and Training institutions have begun introducing renewable energy modules, though implementation remains uneven. More concerning, traditional engineering programmes at universities across the continent often lack updated curricula reflecting current energy technologies. A civil engineering graduate may receive extensive training in concrete and steel but minimal exposure to the materials and methods used in modern solar installations.
The gender dimension adds another layer of complexity. Women remain severely underrepresented in technical fields across Africa, comprising less than 20% of engineering graduates in most countries. Yet increasing female participation isn’t merely about equity. It’s a pragmatic necessity for filling critical vacancies. Progressive employers are launching mentorship programmes and targeted recruitment initiatives, recognising that artificially limiting their talent pool to half the population is economically irrational.
Regional cooperation offers partial solutions. The East African Power Pool has initiated cross-border training programmes, allowing countries to share expertise and facilities. Kenya’s training centres regularly host participants from Rwanda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Malawi and Egypt under various regional partnerships. South Africa’s more developed renewable energy sector has become a talent incubator for the broader region, though this creates its own challenges as skilled workers migrate to opportunities elsewhere.
The urgency cannot be overstated. Without dramatic acceleration in workforce development, Africa risks a scenario where billions of dollars in renewable energy investments sit idle or underutilised due to lack of qualified operators. The Climate Investment Funds have endorsed a $70 million plan for Kenya alone, expected to mobilise an additional $243 million from public and private sectors. Projects already face delays when contractors cannot find enough certified technicians. As deployment scales up, these bottlenecks will only intensify.
The economic stakes are enormous. According to the International Renewable Energy Agency’s analysis, the energy transition could create more than 9 million additional jobs in Africa between 2019 and 2030, with renewable energy employment potentially growing from 350,000 in 2020 to over 4 million by 2030. For youth-heavy populations facing double-digit unemployment, green jobs represent a transformative opportunity. Kenya alone could generate hundreds of thousands of positions across manufacturing, installation, maintenance, and support services.
Realising this potential requires coordinated action. Governments must align education policy with economic strategy, ensuring vocational and tertiary institutions produce graduates with market-relevant skills. This means regular consultations with industry to identify emerging needs and rapidly adjust curricula accordingly.
Private sector actors, meanwhile, cannot afford to wait for public systems to catch up. Leading firms are already investing in training pipelines, calculating that the cost of developing talent internally, whilst significant, pales compared to the opportunity cost of delayed projects and lost productivity.
International development partners can accelerate progress through targeted support for training institutions, funding for equipment and facilities, and platforms for knowledge exchange. However, programmes must be designed with African realities in mind. Imported curricula that don’t account for local grid conditions or available technologies often prove ineffective.
The path forward requires acknowledging an uncomfortable truth: Africa’s green skills gap will worsen before it improves. Renewable deployment is accelerating faster than workforce development pipelines can respond. BloombergNEF forecasts that annual deployments will need to jump from 8 gigawatts today to 32.5 gigawatts per year for the rest of the decade to meet the African Union’s 300 gigawatt target. The question is whether the continent can narrow this lag quickly enough to avoid serious bottlenecks that slow the energy transition and, with it, economic development.
Organisations that move decisively now, building robust training programmes, creating clear career pathways, and hiring for potential rather than only proven experience, will gain competitive advantages whilst contributing to national priorities. Those that wait for external solutions risk being left behind.
The hardware of Africa’s energy future is becoming clear: vast solar arrays in the Sahel, wind farms along coastal corridors, geothermal plants in the Rift Valley. But infrastructure alone won’t power development. That requires something no foreign supplier can provide: a generation of African professionals equipped with the skills to build, operate, and innovate in a clean energy economy. Building that workforce is the true challenge of Africa’s energy transition, and the clock is ticking.
By Philip Mwangangi
