Scholarship launched to help engineers facilitate energy transition

A scholarship aiming to prepare the next generation of engineers for the energy transition with technical training has been launched in Aberdeen – to tackle increasing skills shortages, and backed by a six-figure sum.

The Engineering Construction Industry Training Board (ECITB) Energy Transfer Technician Scholarship has been unveiled at North East Scotland College (NESCol), with a £100,000 grant provided by the city’s Energy Transition Zone (ETZ) to support the “valuable” initiative.

The scholarship been created by UK government skills body the ECITB to address workforce shortages in key engineering roles, with participants getting a £100-a-week grant to develop their engineering knowledge and capabilities as well as an understanding of the new technologies essential to delivering net zero, including digital know-how.

Ten wind turbine technicians and 12 energy transfer technicians will make up the first cohort of ECITB Energy Transfer Technician Scholars starting in September.

ETZ chief executive Maggie McGinlay said the scholarships are “hugely welcome” programmes. “Programmes such as these are a crucial component of the regional ambition to be at the very forefront of energy transition and ETZ is therefore delighted to support this valuable initiative," she added.

ECITB boss Chris Claydon commented that Aberdeen was the obvious location to offer Scotland’s first scholarships in these new energy-transition disciplines.

He said: “There are a number of challenges facing the engineering construction industry in Aberdeen and the North-east, with growing skills shortages and the need to find and retain skilled engineers probably the most pressing,” he said.

“This [scholarship] launch is a very exciting development, not just for the city but for the engineering construction industry as a whole.”