Renewable Energy: Challenges and Opportunities
The Australian Government has legislated emissions reductions targets of 43% (on 2005 levels) by 2030 and net zero by 2050. These targets are enshrined in law in the Climate Change Act 2022. Importantly, these targets will necessitate the construction of new infrastructure on a massive scale. Australia’s existing renewable energy generation of 64GW is forecast to grow to over 218GW by 2050. This will comprise 90GW of wind, 39GW of solar, 18.7GW of water, and 35.9GW of battery storage.For example, it is expected that over 11,000 wind towers will need to be produced, each requiring 500 tonnes of plate steel (for onshore wind towers) or 750 tonnes (for offshore wind towers). The annual production of plate steel in Australia is currently 400kt. To connect all this new generation to consumers, AEMO estimates that more than 10,000km of new transmission lines and 25,000 transmission towers (at 30 to 60 tonnes of steel per tower) will need to be constructed around the country. While funding has been made available for the infrastructure itself, little consideration has been given to the skilled workforce that will be required. The Federal Government recently added an extra 39 occupations to the Australian Apprenticeships Priority List. The list has grown to encompass 111 occupations, as Australia continues to struggle with skills shortages across a range of different sectors—particularly welding and fabrication. Several occupations related to welding and fabrication were added to the Priority List, including
Welder,
Pressure Welder,
Fitter,
Metal Fabricator,
Metal Machinist,
Sheetmetal Trades Worker,
and Blacksmith.
In fact, 11% of the occupations included in the Priority List are now related to welding.

Australia is currently experiencing an acute shortage of engineers. This is bad news considering that engineers are considered the drivers of advanced economies.
A report by Engineers Australia revealed that Australia is experiencing a scarcity of engineers in nearly all disciplines of the profession.
The shortage of engineers in Australia has been a problem for decades, so what’s different this time and what can be done to address it?
Shrinking supply cannot meet growing demand
The first difference is the vast scale of Australia’s engineering shortage. Our country currently has insufficient numbers of engineers to meet our current demand in all disciplines, except the biomedical fields.
The situation can be labelled a ‘skills shortage’ under the National Skills Commission definition, meaning entire industries could be operating at below-optimal levels because several sectors of the economy rely on engineering talent.
The second difference is the increasing demand for engineers.
This is a result of the relentless infiltration of technology into our daily lives, a burgeoning infrastructure sector, greater awareness of climate change and the resulting shift to cleaner, more sustainable energy – and much more.
In the coming years, we will need more engineers than ever. Engineers Australia estimates the future shortfall to be between 50,000 and 100,000 engineers, yet we have an insufficient number of engineers to satisfy even the current demand.
Australia is already heavily dependent on foreign engineers. Recent figures show about 70 per cent of engineers in Australia are born overseas.

According to today’s release of the Q1 2023 RLB Crane Index®, crane numbers across the country have peaked.
Mr Domenic Schiafone, RLB’s Oceania Director of Research and Development said, “Whilst the 835 crane numbers across the country continue to be strong, posting the second highest number of cranes seen since the inception of the RLB Crane Index® in 2012, this represents a 3.8% fall from the record 868 cranes seen in the last edition.”
Sydney still the main driver of crane count
Looking around the country, Sydney continues to be the main driver of the crane count. Of the 836 cranes sighted across Australia, 365 were in Sydney, 189 were in Melbourne, 77 were in Brisbane, 56 on the Gold Coast, 51 were in Perth, 20 in the Sunshine Coast, 18 in Adelaide, 17 in Canberra, 16 in Wollongong, 13 in the Central Coast, 9 in Newcastle, 4 in Darwin and one crane in Hobart.
South East Queensland reaches a new high
Brisbane recorded a fall in this edition as the RLB Crane Index® value fell from 112 index points recorded in Q3 2022, to 105 points currently, wiping out gains recorded in the previous edition. This represents a total of 77 across Brisbane with 40 cranes removed from sites and 35 cranes added. While Brisbane has recorded a net loss in crane numbers, the Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast have performed stronger, bringing the total number of cranes across South East Queensland to a new high of 153 cranes. This increase, however, came at a cost to the civil and mixed-use sectors which saw net decreases of 6 and 2 cranes respectively, while education gained seven new cranes with all other sectors remaining at least level, or seeing moderate gains

Weld Australia estimates that, unless action is taken now, Australia will be 70,000 welders short by 2030.

This urgent issue is not unique to Australia; the US$5.5 billion US fabrication industry will face a shortage of 500,000 welders by 2030. By 2050, Japan’s demographic downturn will result in a 50 per cent loss in their welding workforce; Japan will need around 250,000 welders. In the United Kingdom, BAE is having trouble recruiting enough welders in Glasgow to keep the Type 26 Frigate project on track.

This global shortfall of welders is driving most developed nations to implement extraordinary measures to resolve it – Australia must follow suit.

Statistics from the ABS demonstrate that the number of tradesmen identifying as welding trades workers fell from 83,400 in 2012, to 75,800 in 2014, and again to 69,600 in 2019. Weld Australia estimates that the total is now less 60,000. It is also important to note these individuals ‘identify’ as welders – they are not necessarily qualified welders. Weld Australia suggests that less than half of these 60,000 individuals have completed an apprenticeship, or are otherwise suitably qualified.

Clearly, Australia does not have the welders to deliver the nation’s critical energy, defence, rail and infrastructure projects. Access to the global supply chain for fabricated steel products will be a high-risk, expensive proposition. We will be unable to deliver on the Federal Government’s promises, like renewable energy targets.

Australia’s transition to renewables will necessitate the manufacture of thousands of wind towers and transmission towers, solar panel structures, hydrogen plants and battery processing plants, as well as thousands of kilometres of transmission lines. All this will require a highly skilled workforce, including thousands of qualified welders.

(c) Manufacturer’s Monthly

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